^\ 



MEMORIAL ADDRESS 

ON THE OCCASION OF THE 

CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY 

OF THE FORMATION OF 

CENTRE STREET 

CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH 

At Machias, Me. 

r,V KkV. H. FrHAKDIXG. 



TOGETHER WITH 

A BRIEF HISTORY 

OF THE 

CONGREGATIONAL SABBATH.^CHOOL 

To September, i884. 



MACHIAS: 
riUNTEI) BV C. O. FlRmsTI. 

iss-i. 



X 



INTRODUCTION. 



The Memorial Address of Eev. H. F. Harding and the 
account of the Centre Street Sabbath-school, contained in 
the following pages, are not offered to an indifferent public, 
but to those persons who are interested in the wellare and 
histoiy of the Congregational church in Machias, whether 
they now live within the limits ot the old township or are 
scattered abroad over the entire breadth ot the continent- 
Mr. Harding, with but little time at his command, yet with 
much labor, collected a good deal of interesting and valuable 
information relative to the early history of the church, the 
founding of which he was to commemorate, and arrange the 
same in form fit for preservation. This was a work the 
more difficult to do as the settlers of Machias and the 
founders of her reh'gious and civil institutions were far 
more efficient in arduous labors and deeds of valor than 
careful and particular in minutely recording their doings. 
In the light thus thrown upon those early times many 



iv INTRODUCTION. 

points, before obscure, are made plain, as a single instance 
will show: 

For, in answer to a question that naturally arises, we find 
in the fact of a handful of settlers planting themselves two 
hundred miles beyond the most advanced outpost of civil- 
ization, followed by the excitements, privations and dangers 
of the long years ol tl)e Revolutionary war, a sufficient rea- 
son why nearly twenty years elapsed between the first settle- 
ment of the town and the organization of the church. 

Those of us who listened to the delivery of the address 
were carried back by the vivid language of the speaker 
until the beautiful views the immigrants saw as they sailed 
up this bay and river, one hundred and twenty years before, 
seemed passing before our eyes: and as with him we followed 
rapidly down the years, tiie events of which he so fully in 
few and graphic wordi^ related, we seemed to be in turn 
contemporary with each of the worthies whose life and labor 
was the theme of his story, with the patriotic Lyon, and not 
forgetting the wonderful episode of Clark Brown, with the 
pious iSteele and his colleague the earnest Jackson, the 
meek and pure-minded Ward, the impulsive Kendall, the 
efficient Brown, the genial and faithful Bowler, till we come 
to his own day, so full of interest and laitliiul work, and that 
of his successors, where the recollections of a large part of 
his hearers came in, verifying the words of their former 

pastor. 

The history of the Sabl)atli-scliO()l was mainly written In- 
one who was for several years a resident of Machias and an 
active and prominent teacher of one of its advanced classes 



INTRODUCTION. V 

of young ladies. The work, not fully completed by this 
author, has been brought down to the present time by 
another who has been one of its members, either as scholar 
or teacher, for more than thirty years. The school, like the 
church to which it is an adjunct, is unfortunate in having 
only scanty records of its commencement and early history. 
The steps preliminary to the Celebration, of which the 
address here published was a part, were as follows: As the 
year 1882 drew near, the members of the Centre Street 
Church lelt that a suitable celebration ought to be made of 
the one hundredth anniversary of the organization of a 
christian church in AJachias; the first, with perhaps a single 
exception, in all Eastern Maine, their own original stock and 
the parent ot some half dozen branches, and the contributor 
to many other churches. At the Annual Fast, a time-honored 
and highly prized institution oi the Centre Street Church, 
at the beginning oi that year, a committee consisting of three 
gentlemen and thiee ladies was appointed to take the sub- 
ject into consideration and prepare a plan for a celebration, 
and report at any sulisequent meeting. This committee 
reported in May, and their report was duly accepted: "That 
Commemorative Centennial Services should be held in Cen- 
tre Street Church on Tuesday the 12th day of September 
following, and that the order of the services should be such 
religious exercises as would be appropriate to the occasion, 
including an Historical Address, also the reading of letters 
from former members and invited guests. That the minis- 
ters and members of the churches formed in considerable part 
from the membership of this, namely: the Congregational 



Vi INTRODUCTION. 

churches in East Machias, Machiasport, Northfield, Wliitney- 
ville, Marshfield and Jones^port, should I'e invited to be 
present and join in the services. That absent and former 
members should be invited to be with us on that day, and 
unite in the celebration; and such ministers and members of 
other churches in the county and elsewhere as should be 
known to have an especial interest in this church.'' 

To carry out this plan, a Committee of Arrangements and 
Invitations was appointed, consisting of the pastor Rev. 
Daniel Greene, the Deacons, and several others of the breth- 
ren and sisters. Such other committees as were necessary 
to complete the preparations were also appointed. 

In the latter part of June an invitation to prepare the 
address was sent to Rev. H. F. Harding of Hallowell, who 
for many years was pastor of this church. This he cheer- 
fully undertook and, at the appointed time, as already indi- 
cated, performed to the full satisfaction ol all his hearers. 

The following card of invitation was sent to all iormer or 
present memliers of this church not residing at Machias, and 
to all other guests: 

•'Centeunial Observauce of the Organization of tbe Centre Street 
Congregational Church at Machias. 

Machias, Me., July 17, 1882. 

It has been decided by the Centre Street Congregational Church, 
at Machias, to observe with appropriate services the Centennial An- 
niversary of its organization, which falls on the 12th day of Septem- 
ber, 1882. 

In behalf of the church we affectionately invite you to join in the 



INTRODUCTION. Vll 

services to be held on Tuesday the 12th day of September next at 2 
o'clock P. M., in the Centre Street Church in Machias, in commemo- 
ration of an event which has been so fruitful of good, and in re- 
turning thanks to our Heavenly Father for his signal blessings 
which have flowed from this early established church. 

An early answer is requested, and hoping you may be able to 
unite with us in the services of the occasion, 

We remain very sincere'ly yours, 

Rev. Daniel Gkeene, Pastor. 

Dea. William Inglee, Mrs. Charles F. Stone, 

" Isaac Heaton, " F. S. Coffin, 

'* Gilbert Longfellow, Bro. Thomas Boynton, 

" Warren Hill, " Mason H. Wilder, 

" Charles F. Stone, " Clark Longfellow, 

Committee of Arrangements and Invitations." 

A note ot similar import was sent to each, collectivelj, of 
the six churches already mentioned; also to the Methodist 
and Baptist cliurches in this town. 

For the convenience of those persons in the county who 
would like to attend both, the Congregational Conference, 
held usually in October, was that year held with the church 
at Machias, and met on the same day the celebration oc- 
curred. The Conference, however, simply organized and 
adjourned to the next day, the afternoon and evening of 
that day, Tuesday, September 12, being given to the cen- 
tennial exercises. 

The church was very neatly and tastefully decorated by 
the young ladies and gentlemen of the society, under the 
direction of the late Mrs. Dr. Smith. 



viii INTRODUCTION. 

Owing to a severe rainstorm, which commenced Monday 
morning and continued until Tuesday afternoon, many from 
other towns, who otherwise would have been present, were 
kept at home; yet the number in attendance was sufiScient 
to fill the house. 

In the services of the day, the Rev. Daniel Greene pre- 
siding, the programme here given was carried out: 

"Services at Centre Street Cbnrcb, Machias, on Tuesday, Sept. 
12, 1882, in commemoration of the Organization of Centre Street 
Congregational Church, on the 12th day of Sept., 1782. 



EVENING SERVICES. 

7 o'clock 
Organ Voluntary. 
Hymn. 
Prayer. 

Organ Response. 
Reading Letters. 

Social recess ot 10 minutes. 
Hymu. 
Addresses. 
Hymn. 
Benediction. 



ORDER OF SERVICES. 

2 o'clock p. M. 
Organ Voluntary. 
Invocation. 
Anthem. 

Reading Scripture. 
Prayer. 

Chant. — Lord's Prayer. 
Historical Address, 

By Rev. H. F. Harding, 
of Hallowell, Me. 
Hymn. 
Benediction. 

The address was the principal feature of the occasion, and 
occupied nearly two hours in its delivery. 

In the Conference, on the next day, the following vote o\ 
thanks was offered and, first by a rising vote of the mem- 
hers of the Centre Street Church, and then by all others 
present, unanimously adopted: 

"The Centre Street Church desire, through the committee 



INTRODUCTION. ix 

of rtrrangements, to express their sincere thanks to tlie Rev. 
EI. F. Harding of Hallowell ior his undertaking so arduous 
a task as the preparation of an historical address of the 
Centre Street Church of Macliias. covering the period of 
one l)undred years from Sept. 12, 1782; also tor the great 
pleasure received in listening to the delivery of that ad- 
dress, so full of interesting reminiscences of the early church 
and settlers. 

The committee would also express their desire that the 
address and other interesting papers in Mr. Harding's hands 
be given for publication." 

It was also ordered by the Conference that the vote of 
thanks, with the names of the committee, should be recorded 
in their minutes of that meeting. 

A copy signed by each of the committee of arrangements 
was also sent to Mr. Harding at his home in Hallowell. 

Machias. 1884. 



MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 



By Rev. H. F. Harding. 



Brethren and Friends: 

The occasion that brings us together to day is one 
of unusual interest and well deserving of special commem- 
oration. On the 12th day of September, 1782, this church 
had its origin; and we, who now compose its living member- 
ship, together with the welcome representatives of its nu- 
merous offspring, are met here to celebrate the centennial 
anniversary of its natal day. We pause to-day amid the 
busy, stirring scenes of active life, and turn aside from the 
engrossing pursuits and occupations of the living present, 
that we may retrace from the far-off beginning the paths 
which their feet pursued with painful sacrifice, who have 
long since rested from their labors, and reverently review 
the noble work which their piety founded, their faith builded, 



2 MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 

and their prayers consecrated for our invaluable heritage. 
To relate the circumstances of its origin and recall the mem- 
ory of its founders; to trace its progress downward with the 
advancing years of its growth, describing the chief events 
in its history, and the actors in its great work lor God and 
humanity ; to reunite the separate links in the chain of its 
past existence, and gather up the scattered threads of its 
complicated life and weave them into one consecutive history, 
is the high duty and the grateful task you have imposed on 
me for this occasion, and which 1 ciieerfully accept, only re- 
gretting that it has not fallen into hands better fitted for the 
execution of so important a service. 

And the difficulty of the task will be more fully appre- 
ciated when we mention that, of the formation of this church 
and of its early history during the pastorate of its first min- 
ister, the Rev. James Lyon, a period of twenty-three years, 
no contemporary record exists. No original document — not 
a written or printed word, that I am aware of — has come down 
to us from that long and eventful period of our church histo- 
ry. The earliest records of the church which commence in 
the year 1797 and open with a very brief and summary ac- 
count of the formation of the church and of its first minister, 
are from the hands of his successor, and are included in a 
single page. But while the absence of any original account 
or direct information leaves the first quarter of its history 
shrouded in mist almost mythical, we are thankful for the 
amount of incidental information furnished from other 
sources, and the light thus thrown on the dark period of its 
infancy from unexpected quarters, so that the events that 



MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 3 

transpired, and the actors in the scenes, may l)e vividly rep- 
resented before us. 

That first record, referred to above, is eo brief that we 
cannot do better than quote it entire. It reads as follows : 

"December 5, 1771, the Rev, James Lyon was settled in 
this town of Machias as the first gospel minister, it being at 
that time but a plantation. The church was formed under 
the pastoral care of James Lyon, on the 12th of September, 
1782. On this day Joseph Libby and Benjamin Foster were 
chosen and appointed deacons of the church. The rules and 
regulations, as there assented to by the members, are as 
follows: 

1st. Persons may be admitted to this church without 
making any public relation of their experie'ice. 

2d. That all matters of acknowledgment for the breach 
of God's commandments should be acknowledged before the 
church only. 

3rd. That the Holy ordinance should be administered 
three times a year. 

4th. That the months for that purpose should be May, 
August and October. 

Oct. 6, 1772, the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was first 
administered. These are the only particular records of the 
church under the Rev. James Lyon. The church and those 
in covenant were left very irregular b}' the Rev. James 
Lyon, who died October 12, 1794." 

This is the only report the church has transmitted to us 
of its earliest history; very brief indeed, but full of signifi- 
cance. The last statement of this record we beg you to 



4 MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 

notice particularly, as it lias important bearing on portions 
of our subsequent history. And we think the church must 
have had a written covenant which constituted its bond of 
fellowship, thdugh no record of such remains. Leaving, then, 
this brief statement to stand by itself for the time being, let 
us look elsewhere for answers to the numerous and pressing 
questions that force themselves upon our minds. Who were 
the men and women, and whence came they, who laid the 
sti'ong foundations on which others have builded, and per- 
formed the hard labor into which we have entered? 

Nearly all of the original members of the church came 
with the two companies of the first settlers from iScarboro, 
in the years 1763 and 1765. The people of that settle- 
ment, one of the earliest and most prosperous on the coast 
of Maine, were not unacquainted witli the natural attractions 
and advantages of this locality, as they had visited it occa- 
sionally for the purpose of procuring the marsh hay. even 
as early as 1672. The immediate cause that led to the per- 
manent settlement of this town in 1763 appears to have lieen 
the terrible drought which prevailed very extensively in 
1761 and 1762, and the forest fires which raged in conse- 
quence of the same, l)y which the crops were cut off", and 
large tracts of forest land utterly luined. [lardiy fifteen 
years had elapsed since the last liidifin massacres were per- 
petrated in 1747, and another war broke out in 1754, only 
nine years before the emigration. Thus leaving behind 
them a land withered and blighted by drought, ravaged and 
desolated l)y fii-es, and a soil stained with the blood of fre- 
quent Indian u)assacres, this sequestered retreat of nature 



MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 5 

ccust have Beemed to those early settlers a paradise of 
beauty and a haven of rest. laiagination vividly pictures 
before us the scene which presented itself to their view. 
After a long and storniy passage, on the 20th of May, 1763, 
their little schooner, with Buck for master, entered the 
Machias bay, bearing the first colonists — seventeen men, 
two of their wives, and six children — twenty-five souls in 
all; and they came to stay. And as those homeless wan- 
derers, sick and weary with the long and stormy voyage, 
rounding the Point of Maine, sailed in among the green 
islands and along by the Jasper headlands, and the sheltered 
inlets and sunny coves with their densely wooded shores, 
and with the inflowing tide floated up through the narrows, 
wliere on either hand tlie smooth meadows stretched away to 
the hills, or tinted with the first green of the opening spring, 
the stately forests came down to bathe their feet in the calm 
waters, and still on till in the northward, over the widen- 
ing bay, and the broad level of the marsh lands, far away the 
eye rested on the beautiful amphitheatre of the Marshfield 
hills, inclosing the landscape, surely not without deep 
gratitude and hope did they behold the scene of their future 
ht>me and labor, and rejoice for the divine goodness that had 
cast their lot in so pleasant places, and directed their way 
to so goodly a heritage. Nor did the new comers inherit 
beauty alone with their new-found abode, for with no less 
prodigal hand had nature provided the resources for com- 
fortable livelihood, productive industry and profitable com- 
merce in the junction of three rivers, reaching back into the 
vast extent of virgin forests, and the waterfalls meeting the 



6 MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 

inflowing tides of the ocean. Such was the wilderness of 
beauty and fertility where they hud planted themselves and 
begun to lay the foundations of their church and state. 

Two years after the hist immigration, in 1765, came 
another and larger company of men, bringing their wives 
and children, and household goods; and in the two were 
included most of the members of the future church; and 
judging from the facts recorded in the subsequent religious 
histories of the two communities, the mother must have 
sent out much of her best mateiial. It is a fact worth}' 
of notice here, ihat Scarboro, the original abode, is divided 
by an extensive marsh, with a river flowing through it, into 
two separate regions named from the earliest settlement, 
Black and Blue points, named from a similar configura- 
tion and nomenclature in old Scaiboro in England, su that 
the people were already accustomed to an arrangement for 
church going, precisely similar to that piacticed in this 
town for nearly half a century between the East and West 
rivers, apparently with mutual satisfaction, and unl)roken 
harmony. 

And so they came to stay, those strong-minded men, 
brave and true-hearted women, and settled around the West 
Falls, and tlie head of tide water on Middle river, and up the 
romantic valley of East river, and on both shores of the bay 
below. 

W^ould that there liad been among them a Bradford to 
transmit to us a journal of the trials and the struggles of that 
infant colony ; but they have left us no record of their ex- 
perience in that time. Only we know, that aun'd the hard- 



MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 7 

ships and trials incident to a new colony, they grew and 
prospered, for, in 1770, eighty names are appended to a peti- 
tion for an act of incorporation for the Township of Machias, 
which covered a territor}^ of eight miles by ten, and includ- 
ed in its limits the four chief centres of population, West 
Falls, East and Middle Rivers and the Port, the total of 
which must have reached about 500 souls*. Up to this time 
there was no minister in the place, but no sooner were they 
fairly settled in their new homes than they took measures to 
supply this, to them, indispensable need; and in 1771 voted 
to raise the sum of X84 for the minister's salary, which they 
afterwards increased to .£86, and in addition voted £84 as 
a settlement, which it appears they never paid; consider- 
ing their circumstances, a most extraordinary provision for 
the minister's support. As late as 1812, I think, the valua- 
tion of the town was $15,000. If the inhabitants of the orig- 
inal township to-day should contribute as liberally for minis- 
terial support in the same ratio to the present valuation, the 
minister's salary would be a most liberal one — say $50,000. 

Reviewing from our standpoint the course of events of 
that early period of hardship and conflict, possessing a 
national as well as local interest, we cannot fail to discern 
the hand of a special providence in the circumstances that 
gave to the people of all Machias the Rev. James Lyon to 
be their minister for nearly a quarter of a century. Stephen 
Jones, Esq., one of the leading citizens, if not the ablest man 
in the community at that time, bein^ in Boston, looking 
out for a minister, found there Mr. Lyon, just returned from 
Nova Scotia and looking out for a place, and persuaded him 



8 MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 

to returu with him to Machias, where he entered at once 
upon his long, eventful, and most successful n)inistry. In 
the succeeding period of trial an(J conflict, from 1771 to 
1794, he proved not only a faithful minister but, in other 
trying relations, disclosed the qualities of a remarkable man, 
and proved himself to be emphatically the man for the place 
and the times, and we must know something of his previous 
history before considering his great work. 

Mr. Lyon was a native of New Jersey, and enjoyed the 
advantages of a liberal education, having commenced his 
preparatory studies when over twenty years of age, and 
was graduated from Princeton College in 1759, somewhat 
late in life. After his graduation he pursued his theological 
studies, as the custom then was, with a private clergyman, 
and was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of New 
Brunswick in 1762, and ordained by the same body, Dec. 
5, 1764, to go to Nova Scotia, where he labored for several 
years in the ministry, and was never installed as Pastor of 
this church or any other. The course of events by which 
God brought him to Boston just at this juncture, looking 
for a place, when Stephen Jones was there looking for a 
minister is, to say the least, very remarkable. While Mr. 
Lyon was preaching around in several places in New Jersey 
an event occurred which changed the whole current and 
work of his life. Some gentlemen of Philadelphia, probably 
perceiving the force of character and practical ability there 
was in this man, induced him to go down to Nova Scotia 
and locate a grant of land received from the crown. He 
fixed upon the township of Pictou, and became owner of one 



MEMORIAI. ADDKKSS. 9 

eighth himself. But while engaged in this secular employ- 
ment he did not forget his Master's business, nor neglect 
his sacred vocation, but preached about in several places as 
opportunity oifered. Then he returned to Massachusetts, 
married Martha Holden, and with his wife returned again 
to Nova Scotia and preached four years in the small town of 
Onslow, recently settled by Irish Presbyterians. 7^he set- 
tlei's were very poor and not able to pay him much for his 
services, and having by this time exhausted all his resources, 
being literally starved out, he left and came to Boston, seek- 
in/ a place, where Mr. Jones, seeking a minister, found just 
the right man and minister for Machias. 

The place first used for the meeting house was a barn 
belonging to Stephen Jones, and standing on the other side 
of Centre street, directly opposite this church. Three 
years after this, in 1774, the first church building was erected 
on the south-east corner of the Smith lot, and covering a part 
of the lot on which the Edward Smith house now stands, 
next to the lot whereon Libby flail now stands, subse- 
quently deeded to a committee of the proprietors by George 
Libby, one of the original sixteen settlers, being a part of 
the seven acre lot assigned to him in the original division. 
It was a wooden building 42x25, one story high. It had no 
pews, but plain seats ranged along both sides against the 
wall, with an aisle running between, and a low pulpit placed 
at the farther end. This church was built by the private 
subscriptions of some sixteen individuals, and cost exactly 
X65 8s. lid.— equal to $217. 

Humble and insignificant as seems to us that first church, 



10 MEMORIAL ADDRESS. - 

it was tlje scene of stirring events, the Faneuil Hall ot Ma 
chias; certainly a great step in advance of the barn; and 
doubtless its dedication an occasion of great rejoicing to the 
whole town. At this humble altar in this lowly pulpit the 
faithful and devoted pastor ministered and preached on al- 
ternate Sabbaths, till his V!)ice was silent in death, to the 
congregation of earnest and strong-minded men and women 
gathered from all parts of the town; unsurpassed, we will ven- 
ture to say, in clear intelligence an i vigor of intellect, indeed 
in all the noblest qualities of manhood and womanhood, by 
any congregation ever assembled in lowly chapel or stately 
temple for the worship of God. Here were the Joneses, 
and Smiths, and Longfellows, and Holways, and O'Briens, 
and Fosters, and Talbots, and Seveys, and Lil)beys, and 
Crockers, and Bruces, and Stilhuaiis. and many others like 
them: men and women of faith, and prayer, and courage, and 
self-denial — capable iA the noblest heroism and sacrifice that 
humanity is called upon to put forth. To thrit consecrated 
though lowly chapel, standing on yonder hill, summoned by 
no Sabbath bell, from far and near came the people ot all 
Machias, through the winding forest paths, or gliding along 
the calm surface of the bay in boats, for their Sabbath service. 
But not for worship alone was it employed, Init in a cause 
to them equally sacred: for they were people whose relig- 
ion taught them that ■' Hoistance to tyrants is obedience to 
God." In that little church great questions of humanity 
were discussed; important affairs of state were transacted; 
solemn councils were held, and plans and schemes of resis- 
tance organized in tlie cause of liberty and sanctioned by 



MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 11 

prayers and sermons, tliat surprise us by their wisdom and 
astonish us by their audacity and reckless disregard of per- 
sonal safety, that should render it historical and memorable 
forever. 

Stirring times are at hand. The battle of Freedom for 
their country and the world is about to open, in which this 
remote settlement, hemmed in by interminable forests on 
three sides and by ''ocean's gray and melancholy waste" 
on the other, shall bear a conspicuous and glorious part. 
The story of their patriotism, tiieir fearless courage, their 
labors and sacrifices in their country's service has never 
been published to the world. To record and transmit to 
posterity t leir worthy deeds and great sacrifices in their 
country's service is a duty this generation owes to their 
noble progenitors that their achievements shall have a 
place in tlieir country's history by the side of the stories of 
Concord, and Lexington, and Bunker Hill, and be held in 
equal honor. But what had the church to do with all this, 
you ask? Truly, religion and politics got strangely mixed 
up in those times. The minister and two of the deacons of 
the churcii, soon to be formed, were among the leading 
spirits in the movement, and the third, Libby, contributed to 
the cause his fervent prayers, among which is that one 
handed down to us as "Deacon Libby's prayer," .vhich reads 
like a Psalm of David, and is almost as good. 

Sunday, the 11th of June, 1776, is a day to be reckoned as 
memorable and glorious in the annals of this town, and 
belongs equally to the church history. In the committee of 
safety it had been determined to capture the British vessel of 



12 MEMORIAL ADDRKSS. 

war named the Margaretta, sent here to watch over Icha- 
bod Jones' lumber schooners, Unity and Polly, then load- 
ing with lumber for the British barracks in Boston, and 
lying near the outlet of Middle river. The officers were to 
be first seized in the church. The patriots in other parts 
of the town and along the shore had been summoned to ren- 
dezvous at the Port. They came up through the woods, on 
what has since been named the Revolutionary Path, to 
the point where the little brook crosses the road on the out- 
skirts of the village, and, in the hollow just beyond the Otis 
Crocker place, and on the farther side, came to a stand, seem- 
ingly appalled at the audacity of their own undertaking. The 
lives and property of the people lay at the mercy of the 
armed vessel in the harbor; a pathless and interminable 
wilderness lay behind ihem, haunted by wild beasts and 
treacherous savages, their only avenue of supplies held 
by the enemy, and only three weeks' provisions on hand. 
No wonder they shrank from an attempt in which failure 
was ruin, and success would assuredly draw down upon 
them the vengeance of the British government. But there 
was one man among them, the captain of the company, Ben- 
jamin Foster, who never knew what fear was; who did not 
hesitate, and leaping acrons the bmok bade all who would 
go on with him come over to his side. A few followed 
at once, then others, one by one, till the last man stood 
on his side. 

Now let us change the scene to the little church on the 
opposite side of the river, and through the open windows, 
on that bright June morning, look in upon the assembled 



MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 13 

worshipers, all but a few entirely uncousciuiis of the 
blow about to be struck. The minister is in his usual 
place. Deacon Libby is there engaged in silent prayer. 
Ichabod Jones is there, the tory spy, who will never again 
sail away in the Unity or the Polly; and the British officers 
are there, in their bright uniforms, in blissful ignorance of 
the danger impending; and just behind, the fiery young 
John O'Brien, with his musket hidden under his seat, little 
dreaming of the hand-to-hand desperate struggle of the fol- 
lowing day, and his own learlul peril, as for a few moments 
he stood alone on the deck of the enemy's vessel, facing the 
crew. The service goes on as usual, when suddenly a wild 
cry of alarm rings through the church, filling the congrega- 
tion with excitement and terror. The officers, struck with 
sudden alarm, spring through the open windows and escape 
to their vessel, not even there feeling themselves safe. 
It was not a surprise, but a greater victory. 

In the long and anxious conflict Mr. Lyon was one of 
the most firm and steadfast, and active, of all the patriots, 
sacrificing everything, asking notliing. In that most valu- 
able record of the times, Col. Allan's journal, we read: "Sun- 
day, Sept. 7, 1777, held town meeting to consult for safety. 
Then Parson Lyon preached an encouraging sermon." 
Both in the same church, doubtless. Again: "Monday, 
Nov. 10, '77, Col. Allan and Mr. Lyon went to the Ryhm, 
where all the soldiers attended prayers." There is extant 
a letter from Mr. Lyon to Gen. Washington, proposing 
a plan for the capture of Nova Scotia, offering himself 
as leader, and would doubtless have accomplished the 



14 MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 

work, for he was well acquainted with the province and 
the people, and knew their sympathy to be with the 
States very generally. In the townships of Onslow, Truro 
and Londonderry, out of a populatit)n of nine hundred, only 
five took the oath of allegiance, and in King county a liber- 
ty pole was cut and got ready. There is but little (i[uestion 
that but for the steadfast resistance of the people of Ma- 
chias, the Eastern boundary of the United States would have 
been the Penobscot instead of the St. Croix, and hardly less 
doubtful is it tliat Parson Lyon would have added the Prov- 
inces to the States had his plans been carried out by the 
government. Not less active and devoted to the end of the 
war were his deacons, Col. Benj. Foster and Capt. Stephen 
Smith. 

Mr. Lyons' salary, owintj to the hard times, was not paid 
him during the war, and at one time was in arrears some 
.£900. Whether this was ever paid in full we have no 
means of knowing. Not even did he draw the two rations 
allowed him by the general government. To what straits 
he was reduced, and how much he suffered is disclosed to us 
from a petition he presented to the Massachusetts Legisla- 
ture some two years after the close of the war, a copy of 
which I have before me. At one time the food of his fami- 
ly consisted of the clams procured by his own labor, and it 
is known he had on one of the islands in the bay an estab- 
lishment for making salt. 

Surely the conduct of the church in the Revolution forms 
a noble chapter in its history, for which we are most de- 
voutly thankful, and must by no means pass unrecorded in 



MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 15 

this review of" its past history. From such materials, out ot 
such an experience sprung this church into being. From 
the foregoing narrative we see why its organization was de- 
layed till Sept. 12, 1782. From the best inforrnation we can 
gain, the church, at its formation, consisted of but six mem- 
bers, Deacons Foster and Libby and their wives, Solomon 
Stone, and another female — and others were received from 
time to time till the number amounted to forty-two at Mr. 
Lyons' death. The form of the church organization was 
extremely simple. The day of creed-making had not ar- 
rived. Just three simple rules — admission without public 
relation of experience; confession for offences before the 
Church alone, and times of communion appointed. Truly 
apostolic in its simplicity, and not without significance. In the 
religion of that day experience was required as an evidence 
of conversion and condition of membership. Under the 
Edwards and Hopkins theology, then predominant, experi- 
ence was a fearful thing. The ideas of the awful guilt of 
the sinner, the Justice of God, eternal decrees stirred some 
souls to wrath; sunk others to despair. Irresistible grace 
alone, through the agonies of remorse and the joy of for- 
giveness, could save a soul. Timid and conscientious souls 
shrink from the test. But to this little colony in the wilder 
ness, called uf God, comes a man, simple, earnest, practical, 
full of zeal and christian charity, and says, the church is sim- 
ply a company of God's children on the earth. No need to 
tell in public of agonies and raptures; only satisfy your pas- 
tor and deacons that you are converted, and the door is 
open. This is just such a church as we should expect 



16 MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 

Parson Lyon to form, a man of laith and practice rather 
than dogmas and systems. Moreover, it is to be observed 
that the age when this church came into being was rife 
with theological controversy. A reaction against the stern 
and exclusive system of Calvinism had commenced. Hu- 
manity began to assert itself against the doctrine of absolute 
sovereignty. And a portion of the new comers were inclined 
to the milder views. Stephen Jones, a man of liberal ten- 
dencies and a hater of sects, was as active in religious mat- 
ters as in civil. The Talbots and others had arrived from 
Stoughton and other towns in Massachusetts, and it would 
not answer to split on questions of doctrine. They needed a 
broad church, and in this respect the minister was the man 
for the occasion. Ah, yes, we know a great deal more about 
the circums'ances and influences that surrounded and ope- 
rated in the formation of this church, than did the successor 
of Mr. Lyon, the Rev. Clark Brown, who introduces himself 
to the public by a single page of his record devoted to Mr. 
Lyon, his church and his twenty-three years' ministiy. Thus 
amid the throes of civil war and religious controversy, the 
year before the close of the war, this church came into be- 
ing and entered upon its divine mission. It was truly a 
church in the wilderness. No roads connected the town 
with other settlements, east or west. Not till a quarter of 
a century afterwards, 1806, was the road cut through to 
Eastport. There was not another minister within a hundred 
miles. There were but thirty-one Congregational and Pres- 
byterian churches in Maine, and Mr. Lyon the only settled 
minister east of VViscasset. 



MEMORIAL AnPRESS. 17 

Two years later, lacking three mouths, the piaiitation of" 
Machias became a town by act of incorporation under the 
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and it was voted in town 
meeting to raise X86 for the Rev. James Lyon's salary, and 
X60 for schools. The same amount was annually voted by 
the town for Mr. Lyon's support till the time of his death. 
June, 1785, as appears by tlie old town records, it was 
voted to build two meeting houses, one at East River and 
the other at West Falls. Neither of these houses was built, 
but the next year the town bought of the original proprie- 
tors the old church on Libby Hill, paj'ing exactly the first 
cost of the same, viz: X65, 8s. lid. and hired a dwelling house 
of Samuel Rich at E;ist River for a place of worship; the 
minister preaching at both places on alternate Sabbaths, the 
people from both places attetiding each service, and going 
round by way of Marshfield. 

But Mr. Lyon's active temperament and broad views of 
ministerial responsibility would not permit him to confine 
his interest and efforts to the sphere of religious duty alone, 
but drew him into active participatit)n in civil affairs also. 

We cannot forbear citing one instance which bears strong 
testimony to the foresight and political sagacity of those 
village statesmen, and also gives proof of the confidence 
reposed in their minister's judgment in matters of great 
public concern. This occurs in a remarkable document 
found on the old town records, and is nothing more nor less 
than an emphatic Letter of Instruction, adopted in town 
meeting held in that little brown church, May 30, 1778, at 
2 o'clock, P. M., to David (xardner, their Representative to 



18 MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 

the General Court of Massachusetts, and reads as follows: 
"If any important question should come before the House 
during your attendance upon it, if in its tendency it will be 
likely to be highly beneficial to the public, you will give 
your vote for it— but you are not by any means to give 
your vote for any emission of paper money, nor are you to 
give your vote for any measure that will have a tendency to 
annihilate public or private debts. We have the honor of 
our Nation at heart, and would not by any means give our 
assent to an act that should have even a tendency to sully 
it. Though we are poor we mean to be honest. The town 
of Machias wishes to have the powers of Congress enlarged." 
This paper is signed by Stephen Jones, James Avery, Jere- 
miah O'Brien, Committee. Words of immortal wisdom; all 
honor to the men who had the sagacity to conceive and the 
courage to utter them. Is it that their spirits still linger 
amid the scenes of their former labors, and their voices still 
echo in the ears of their descendants, that after a hundred 
years, in the great victory of the party of Fiat Money, not a 
man was found in Machias to throw a Greenback vote, and, 
that her citizens, in the worst times of financial distress, 
wiped out the last dollar of their municipal debt, and had a 
balance left in the treasury. But it is the closing sentence 
of this remarkable paper that more nearly concerns our sub- 
ject to-day. It closes with this direction to the representa- 
tive, John Gardner: "You are requested to consult with 
the Rev. James Lyon on the necessary means to carry these 
Instructions into effect, and ask him for his assistance there- 
in," James Lyon, then, was their political counselor as well 



MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 19 

as religious teacher and pastor. Truly there is a Revela- 
tion to us in these closing words. The ten years following, 
from 1784 to 1794, do not appear to be marked by any im- 
portant event. The town was steadily growing in popula- 
tion and wealth. The mills had risen, PhcBnix-like, from the 
ashes of 1788, and lumber had gone up from $3.00 to $8.00 
per thousand, and all things seemingly were prospering but 
religion. The two meeting houses had not been built, and 
tlie brethren who had shared in the Wliitefield revivals 
were doubtless mourning over the low state of Zion. The 
cause of religion among such a people and under such a 
miiiister could not slumber nor go backward, and silently in 
all those years was preparing a movement of great impor- 
tance in the history of the church, which accomplished itself 
in 1794; and that year saw a new church rise up in the 
place of the little brown church ot 20 years before, with its 
two rows of wooden benches and low pulpit, though not 
finished till 1797. It was capacious in size, fine in its ap- 
pointments, with its high- backed panelled pews ranged 
around the walls and a double tier in the body of the house, 
and aisles between with a gallery on three sides, and an 
elevated pulpit with winding stairs to climb to it. The 
sounding board was added in Mr. Steele's day. Truly 
stately and magnificent must have seemed to the congrega- 
tion of that day, the new church in comparison with the 
humble structure, insignificant indeed in appearance, but 
noble in its uses and glorious in its memories. The story of 
the building of that church bears witness to the earnest spirit 
of the people, and is well deserving of record. The humble 



20 MF.MORIAT. ADDRESS, 

structure, which had served so long and well the various 
needs of the people, secular and religious, was about worn 
out, and too strait lor the increasing numbers, and a meet- 
ing of the (Mtizens was held, March 18, 1793, at the house 
of Dr. Parker Clark, near the west end of the bridge, ^nd 
now used as a store by J. Chandler & Son, but at that time 
occupied as a tavern. The object of the meeting was to 
take measures for the erection of a new house of worship. 
A subscription was opened at once, and the next day a 
gang of men were at work in the woods cutting timber, 
headed b}' Capt. Gideon O'Brien as chief chopper, followed 
by Capt. Jacob Longfellow, who acted as liner, and sufficient 
in number to side down the timber as fast as it was fur- 
nished by choppers and liners. The timber was given by 
Capt. O'Brien, and taken from the lot where Mr. Lemuel 
Gay afterward lived for many 3'ears. Another party of men, 
at the same time, were engaged at Marshfield in getting 
out timber for the same purpose, and the entire frame was 
prepared and hauled before the snow was gone. This build- 
ing was in dimensions 45x55, and the coso of raising and 
covering, to March. 1796, was $1,935. The ground plats for 
pews were sold for $3,161, and the excess over the amount 
already expended went towards finishing the pews. These, 
with the pulpit, were completed in 1797. Did the old min- 
ister ever preach in the new church? No information is 
handed down to us on this point, but in all probability he 
did not. All the knowledge we have of the closing years 
of Mr. Lyon is derived from the annual votes, recorded on 
the old town l)ook, and they tell in a most eloquent and 



MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 21 

pathetic manner the unwritten story, of the declining age of 
this good niKn and faithful minister. Up to 1792 it is voted 
in the annual town meeting, year by year, to raise £86 for 
the support of Rev. Janjes L3'on. Tliat year the same 
amount is raised, but the form of the vote is changed, and it 
reads: "X86 for the support of a minister," and the next year 
it is still more indefinite, "Minister's, salary <£8G." James 
Lyon's name is left out, but no other name is inserted in its 
place. It is all plain to us now. Not old in years, but over- 
worked, over-burdened by protracted and excessive labors 
and cares, — pastoral, political, domestic, — his health is giving 
way; the stiong man is failing. The people of Machias do 
not propose to change their minister. He has been with 
them twenty-three years, and stood by them through peril 
and storm, and when trade was prostrate and lumber brought 
next to nothing, he worked on all the same without pay, and 
never complained till they fell in debt to him £900 ; but 
now it is evident, these two years past, that his work is al- 
most done. They will raise the salary all the same for him, 
but may have to pay it to another minister. And so, indeed, 
the next year it came about, and Nov. 5, 1795, appears this 
simple and touching record: "It having pleased the Divine 
disposer of all things to deprive us of our late pastor, we, 
the subscril)ers, request that a meeting of the inhabitants 
be called for the purpose of entering into some measures for 
supplying the town with an able minister." Signed by 
George Stillman, Wm. Chaloner, Aaron Hanscom, Nathan 
Longfell.iw, Jr., J:^mes VV. Crocker, John Edmonds. All 
Machias joins in the petition, East Machias and Middle River 



22 MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 

and the Port. October 12th he passed away, and November 
5th all parts of the town are petitioning for another minister. 
Wljat a testimonial to the woi k of the departed and the value 
of his work! Fifty-nine years of age; twenty-three spent in 
Machias as teacher, pastor, counsellor, friend, patriot. "After 
life's fitful fever he sleeps well,"' near the spot where he 
ministered, in a grave neglec ed, unnoticed, almost unknown; 
l)ut when his monument shall be erected by a grateful pos- 
terity the most fitting inscription will be found in the words 
of Holy writ: '-Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, 
yea saith the spirit, that they may rest from their labors: 
and their works do follow them." And what matters it 
that, on your church records, only one brief page is given to 
his work and ministry here in Machias, and not even a n)e- 
morial stone marks his resting place, since his enduring work 
is his everlasting memorial, and his record is written in im- 
perishable characters in the hearts of men. In addition to 
his other endowments, Mr. Lyon possessed a fine musical 
genius and cultivated taste, and himself published a book of 
music. The "Manual of Devotion," which he also published 
bears testimony to his devoted piety, and was highly es- 
teemed by his people. Mr. Lyon must have been about 37 
years of age when he came first to this town. He began 
with its infancy, witnesseci its steady growth, and left it 
strong, prosperous, and tor the times, rich. Would that the 
gifted pen of a Bradford had transmitted to us a journal of 
the events oi those stirring times, so rich in liistorical inter- 
est, so full of noble sacrifice, of romantic daring, of devoted 
patriotism. But deeds speak louder and longer than words. 



MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 23 

From out that silent past voices aie sounding still, telling 
us that the first minister of this church was not only lull of 
zeal and devotion as a pastor and teacher, but a leader in 
public affairs; an eminent citizen, an aident patriot, shrinking 
from no sacrifice, fearless of danger, a constant inspiration 
to his flock in every gooii cause. Surrounded by foes and 
dangers, the hostile power of Great Britai'U on one side and 
the savage tribes all around, it is an unspeakable wonder 
how the}- dared to pursue the bold course which seems to 
us almost fool-hardy ; and then, doing it, how they escaped 
destruction. 

The committee appointed to provide an able minister to 
succeed Mr. Lyon did not find one till the following May, 
when t)n the 17th of that month the Rev. Clark Brown came 
here to preach on the recommendation of the Rev. Peter 
Thacher. D. D , of Boston, to whom application had been 
made by the cummiltee. 

With Mr. Brown commences the written records of the 
church, opening with the summary of the earlier church and 
Mr. Lyon's long ministry, which we have quoted above. 
The records of Mr. Brown's ministry, which are loosely 
spread over quite a large sized book, purport to be kept by 
Mr. Brown himself; but, with the exception of a few entries 
in a spra vling, almost illegible hand, evidently his own, on 
comparison with the town records, are foun(3 to be in the 
elegant chirography of Ralph H. Bowles, for many years 
town clf^rk. These records are hardly more than a personal 
narrative of Clark Brown's ministry, which forms a strange 
episode in the history of the church. From James Lyon's 



24 MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 

earnest, solid work ior religion and humanity, to his suc- 
cessor's frivolous and fantastic efHorts in his own behalf is a 
most striking illustration of the fruniliar adage: "It is but a 
step from the sublime to the ridiculous." lie was a man of 
some literary ability, but possessed of an ill-balanced mind, 
and singularly lacking in judgment and discretion. He first 
addressed himself to the work of reconstructing the church 
and securing his own position. He prepared a formula^ of 
faith, a species of creed and confession, savoring strongly of 
paganism, to which the members ot the church were re- 
quested to affix their signatures. Just one-half the number 
(211) signed, and ihe remainder were suspended; thus at the 
first stroke reducing his church one-half. Not yet feeling 
himself safe, he proceeded to convert the church into a re- 
ligious association, or League and Covenant, bound together 
by a sort of oath which pledged the members to worship 
God and support Mr. Brown. The terms of admission to 
the church, so called, were framed more and more lax and 
easy; special accommodations were granted to those who 
wished their children baptised, without themselves joining 
the church, and provision made for admitting these baptised 
cliildren into full communion when they should arrive at a 
suitable age; until, under his skillful manipulation the lines 
of separation between the church and the world W(Me pretty 
nearly elfat^ed, and the church proper had virtually ceased 
to exist. About this time he accepted a call from Brimfield, 
Mass., and |)assed from this field of labor to another, where 
the same unliappy drama was enacted on a larger scale and 
with more disastrous and permanent results. Two 3'ears of 



MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 25 

Mr. Brown sufficed for the people of Machias, and though 
tlie majority welcomed his departure with mure joy than his 
advent, .still a small party adhered to him, and a movement 
was set on foot by some of the West Falls people to form a 
new parish and obtain a charter from the General Court of 
Massachusetts that they might have him all to themselves, 
lor there was never a minister so foolish or eriing that 
there are not found some to do him reverence. 

And now, as we review from this distant period this sin- 
gular break. 1 had almost said this solemn farce, in your 
church history, the whole explanation, with t'le motives and 
causes, rises before us. A new generation has come upon 
the scene. The town has been growing rapidly. A new 
and stately church has taken the place of the old one. The 
people have caught the spirit of the times. They are tired 
of the old minister and the old-fashioned ways and doctrines. 
Stephen Jones, the ablest intellect and most influential 
man in the society, is a liberal. A change is demanded. A 
new departure in theology is attempted. A young man just 
from Harvard and his private training, is called, and preaches 
in an astonishing manner. The people are carried away with 
enthusiasm, and unanimously vote the new minister XlOO 
salary and £100 settlement, and then to make sure of him 
raise by private subscription XlOO to be paid in merchant- 
able lumber at Machias, not Boston, prices; an extraordinary 
sum, considering the resources of the people. But all were 
in favor, and so eager that those who could not attend the 
town meeting sent in their votes. Great expectations were 
cherished of the promising young minister. Social and witty, 



26 MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 

biilliant and flowery in his style, not rigid in doctrine nor 
exacting in piety, he was received at first with great lavor 
and unanimity, which soon waned in the absence of those 
qualities which secure permanent respect and usefulness in 
the pastoral office. And so, as was to be expected, his min- 
istry was a disastrous failure. A lew lines will complete his 
history: 

Clark Brown was born in Stonington, Conn,, in 1772; was 
l»aptised, on his mother's account, under the half-way cove- 
nant, Oct. 2, 1774, and joined tlie church in 1788 ; was a 
nienjber of Harvard college, but never graduated. While 
at Machias, his first settlement, he received a call to Brim- 
field to preach as candidate. He remained in this place 
aljout six years, where his course was almost a complete 
repetition of that in Machias. l)ut with more disustrous re- 
sult. While here he married the daughter of Dr. Joseph 
Moffat, by whom he had two sons, named Orus and Nean- 
thanus, and was sent to the Legislature of Massachusetts 
twice by his partizans. After leaving Brimfield he was hired 
to preach one yeai- in Montnelier, Vt., but requested to re- 
tire at the end of six months. He then started a weekly 
paper called the Vermont Watchman. Afterwards preached 
at Swansey, N. H., and Orange, Mass,, and died in Maryland, 
Jan. 12, 1817, aged 45 years. His wife afterwards opened a 
school in Oregon Territory, which prospered, and finally 
grew into the first college established in that Territory. 
Clark Brown left a volume of sermons published while min- 
ister in Machias, which is still extant, and several occa- 
sional sermons and controversial pamphlets are still pre- 



MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 27 

served as curiositiHs of literature in the Brimfield pastoral 
library. 

From 1797 till the close of the century, there is a void in 
our church history. But with the heginniug ot the nine- 
teenth century a new era dawns upon the church coincident 
with the commencement of the ministry of the Rev. Marsh- 
field Steele. Though the church had been nearly dismem- 
bered by tlie reckless management of the last incumbent of 
the pastoral office, the material still remained and the pro- 
cess of reconstruction was immediately begun. Rev. Marsh- 
field Steele came to Machias from Bolton, Mass. It would 
be difficult to find a man more unlike in every respect to 
the former ministei' than was the new minister Mr, Steele. 
Grave and even severe in deportment, painstaking and 
methodical m his habits, scrupulously, almost morbidly con- 
scientious, a man of deep humility and most devoted piety, 
yet eminently genial and social in disposition, he was spec- 
ially fitted to perform the difficult work to which he wa.s 
providentially called. The Council assembled for his ordi- 
nation made it the first business to reconstruct the church 
on the old foundation. They drew up by request a good, 
strong, I will not say old fashioned, for the creed-forming 
period in New England church history was now well inau- 
gurated, Calvanistic creed ajid covenant, and nine of the old 
members were constituted the church by signing the same. 
Afterwards twenty more joined, making twenty-nine mem 
bers in the revived church. At the ordination of Mr. Steele 
the sermon was preached by Rev. Jonathan Fisher of Blue- 
liill, a copy of which we still possess, and is lull of sound, 



28 MEMORIAL ADDRESS, 

priictical wisdom and orthodoxy. The miuister is advised to 
labor with his own hand two or three days in the week, that 
he may relieve the people of a part ot their burden, and the 
doctrine ol Election is set fortli in its strongest form. The 
charge to the pastor was given by Rev, John IHawyer of 
Bootlibay, and the right hand ol fellowship by Rev, Eben- 
ezer Price f)l Bellast. Thus it is seen from how wide a region 
in those days a council must be gathered, and doubtless 
the ordination was made a great occasion. In 1817, April 
16th, the first Congregational .Society was organized, a 
petition having been made in the preceding July to the 
Massachusetts General Court, and signed by one hundred 
names, for an act of incorporation. The salary paid him by 
the parish was $500 per annum. Mr. Steele's active pastorate 
continued 21 years, when a colleague was settled, Mr. Abram 
Jackson. During the whole period of Mr. Steele's niinistr}' 
there was no general or marked revival of religion in any 
part of his large field. In 1817 and 1818 there occurred at 
Middle River a special interest and a number of conversions, 
but there appears to have been a constant and pervading 
seriousness and a condition of healthy progress. Sixt3'-five 
members were added to the church. Though possessed of 
no marked ability, nor in any sense popular as a preacher, his 
ministry was greatly blessed to the church and people, and 
his memory is cherished with warm affection. The univer- 
sal testimony is that he was a good man. His genuine sym- 
pathy and social habits drew the hearts of the people towards 
him in a marked degree, and his relation to the people was 
one of absolute confidence and love. A gentleman of high 



MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 29 

standing, now in active life, rememl)ers to have heard the 
following story from his mother one day after letnrning from 
cliurcli. In the sermon ot that day he took occasion to say 
that "there was one sin against which he had failed to bear 
testimony, and would do so now, and that is the shooting of 
turkeys on Thanksgiving day." It is told that the wife of 
a professional gentleman, a near neighbor, not an adept in 
housekeeping, was wont to resort to the parson for advice 
when she could not make her teakettle boil, and in other 
similar domestic difficulties. It is a pleasure to look over 
his penmanship in the old record book; stiff", formal, bare of 
all ornament, but beautiful from its regularity, and the care 
and fidtjlity with which every letter is formed, so truly in- 
dicative of the character of the man. No wonder that, living, 
he was greatly beloved by his people, and dying, his life and 
words were and are still held in tender and loving remem- 
brance. His portrait, still in possession of a member of this 
church, expresses the benignity of his heart, and though liis 
memorial stone lies prostrate and trampled under foot in 
yonder neglected graveyard, yet a more enduring monument 
to his goodness and fidelity remains and ever will in the grati- 
tude and love of the church and people to whom he minis- 
tered. Flis health was in general quite infirm, but his special 
troul)le consisted in a disease of the throat, probably chronic 
laryngitis, which gave to his voice a peculiar quality and 
necessitated the use of the sounding board over the pulpit, 
both at East and West Machias, and which compelled him to 
give up preaching altogether in 1821, after twenty-one years 
of faithful and successful service. 



30 MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 

The Rev. Abram Jackson, a student from Bangor, was 
settled as colleague. The ordination took place at East 
River, the Council meeting at the house of Dea. Peter Talbot. 
At the ordination services, in the church, apprehensions be- 
ing entertained for the safety of the structure, cedar posts 
with the bark peeled off were set under the gallery, and 
blocks of wood placed under the floor, which well secured 
these parts indeed, but the council, sitting in a body in the 
front seats, when they rose together for prayers, leaning too 
heavily, the front gave way with a sudden crash, producing a 
temporary excitement, but no serious consequences. In Mr. 
Jackson's ministry of thirteen years the chief interest cen- 
tres in two events, — the great revival of 1826, and the col- 
onization of the church of East Machias. Of the first re- 
markable event, we are fortunate in having an account from 
Mr. Jackson's own hand, from which we are glad to learn 
something of the causes and circumstances attending that 
wonderful religious movement which spread over every 
part of the town and resulted in two hundred conversions. 

The account states that the christian people of Machias 
had felt a deep concern for the low state of religion, and 
observed days of fasting and prayer on that account. There 
were revivals in progress at the time in Dennysville on the 
east, and Cherryfield on the west, also at Steuben. Some 
degree of interest was awakened, a iew conversions took 
place, and a deep and solemn interest seemed to pervade 
the community, but the divinely appointed instrument for 
this work, by whose martyrdom, so to speak, this great sal- 
vation was wrought out, and who doubtless wears now the 



MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 31 

martyr's crown, was a young man by the name of Whittlesey, 
a student at the time in Yale College. He was on a visit to 
Lubec for his health, and even then far gone in a decline. 
Finding there an urgent call for christian work, he threw 
himself with all his energies into the service, regardless of 
his physical weakness. While thus engaged an urgent so- 
licitation came to him from Machias to come over and lielp 
in the good work already begun there. Yielding to this 
call, though not without many misgivings, he came to Ma- 
chias, and made himself a willing sacrifice to the cause of 
his divine master, — his last service on the earth. His 
preaching was "in demonstration of the Spirit and in power," 
and produced a powerful effect. To those who heard him 
he seemed to speak as from the confines of the spirit land, and 
men were strangely moved by his vivid presentation of 
truth, and his solemn appeals to sinners. As the season 
wore on his rapidly declining health obliged him to give up 
his work, and soon after he yielded up his life. His last 
sermon is still in the possession of a member of this church. 
As one immediate consequence of this revival the church 
at East Machias was organized. Seventy-eight were dis- 
tnissed from this church, and fifty-eight added from the new 
converts, making one hundred and thirty-six in all. One 
hundred and forty-eight new members were added to both 
churches, and there were twenty-five converts at the Port, 
who, four years after, in 1830, with the same number from 
this church, formed themselves into a separate church. 
Such were the immediate results of this great and benefi- 
cent work of Grace. But alas ! in this world there is no 



32 MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 

good without evil mixed. The thunder storm tliat purifies 
the atmosphere also carries destruction with it. On the 
wave of excitement unworthy souls were floated into the 
church. After the revival came the reaction, and the church 
records for the remainder of Mr. Jackson's ministry are not 
pleasant reading, nor edifying to any soul of man. Mr. 
Jackson was a good man and an earnest and able preacher. 
When wrought up to a high pitch he had a way of leanitiir 
over the pulpit and gesticulating violently, somewhat to the 
discomfort of his juvenile hearers seated near the front of 
the pulpit. He accepted a call to the church in Belfast in 
1834 and was succeeded by the Rev. S. D. Ward, who came 
from the preceptorship of East Machias Academy and was 
installed pastor in Dec, 1834, and continued in this relation 
ten years. From the able pen of a distinguished gentleman, 
who held with Mr. Ward the most intimate relations, I am 
favored in possessing a most interesting and comprehensive 
sketch of this faithful and beloved pastor, whose intellectual 
gifts, character and pastoral work are thus graphically de- 
scribed by the Hon. Geo. F. Talbot: "As to the results of 
Mr. Ward's ministry the records will give the facts. 1 only 
know the zeal and devotion with whicli Mr. Ward entered 
upon his ministry and the intensity of consecration with 
which he prosecuted it. He had come to the preceptorship 
of the Academy a serious and thoughtful, pure aud blameless 
man, but, as he thought himself, with little fervency of relig- 
ious feeling. He lost a noble woman, his vvife, who was my 
cousin, and one or two infant children. He had lived in the 
same house and on most intimate terms with the Rev. Thomas 



MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 33 

T. Stone, a man of great sanctity of character and full of the 
enthusiasm of his sacred calling. These events and in- 
fluences wrought upon his mind, what he told his friends 
was, a second conversion; and he entered upon his ministr)'' 
with a devotion and earnestness that seemed to have quite 
changed his habits and character. His temperament was 
sad, his mode of life reserved and austere, and his i'aith in 
the somlire theology that prevailed in New England fifty 
years ago never tolerated a question or a misgiving. He 
had a fervid rather than a poetic imaginatii)n, a graceful and 
eloquent style, and an exceedingly impressive delivery. His 
sermons were what we used to call searching and practical. 
They were intensely dogmatic, but the doctrinal lessons 
were all enunciated for the purpose of making an impression 
upon the minds and consciences of his hearers; and they 
were followed up by personal appeals to all to whom he 
could get access. I don't know as I have succeeded iu 
drawing a picture of him such as he was: a stern soldier 
of the cross; a devout, sincere and impassioned follower of 
Christ, thoroughly consecrated to the service of his master 
ill the saving of human souls." 

We might reasonably expect great results from the min- 
istry of such a man, and the event more than fulfilled the 
expectation. Those ten years of Mr. Ward's ministry were 
emphatically years of the right hand of the Most High, the 
history of which we cannot read without emotions of deep 
gratitude and joy. That was indeed an eventful period in 
the history of this church. In the early period of Mr. Ward's 
ministry, 1836, a great work was decided upon by the church 



34 MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 

and society and successfully carried through to completion. 
The second church had seen its best days, and stood as a 
relic of the past. The taste of the people demanded, the 
increase of population and wealth justified, a more commo- 
dious and elegant house of worship, and they determined to 
build. A voluntary association of subscribers to shares was 
formed and legally incorporated. The value of the shares 
was fixed at $50, and there were one hundred subscribers. 
The names of the building committee were as follows: 

George S. Smith, 

Daniel Longfellow, 

William F. Penniman, 

Samuel Burpee. 
With great unanimity the church and parish engaged in 
the enterprise. Not without long discussion and consider- 
able opposition, unwisely, we think, the old lot was aban- 
doned, and the lot on Centre Street decided upon and pur- 
chased of George Stillman Smith, for which the sum of $1,200 
was paid, and the substantial, commodious and elegant sanc- 
tuary was erected, in which we worship to-day; for the time 
and place a truly noble work, which they executed and be- 
queathed to posterity as a precious legacy, free from all 
incumbrance of debt; a memorial of their generous public 
spirit and wise foresight, and a lasting mouuujent to their 
honor and praise. Under these favorable auspices Mr. Ward 
entered upon his successful ministry. Extensive revivals 
visited his charge in 1836 and 1840, and 98 members were 
added to the communion ; of the number 36 were received 
on one occasion, the majority of whom were residents of 



MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 35 

Marslifield. Owing to the failure of his health, alter ten 
years' service, Mr, Ward felt obliged to tern)inate his minis- 
try here, and was dismissed Aug. 14, 1844. While here Mr. 
Ward married lor his second wife Laura A. Morse, and after 
leaving Machias preached in Feeding Hills, Mass., where he 
died, June 11, 1858. During the pastorate oi Mr. Ward 
two more colonies were sent out from the 'mother church to 
form other churches. Five members of this church were 
dismissed in Sept , 1836, to organize a church in Northfield, 
and six members in November, same year, to form the church 
in W^iitneyville. 

Mr. Ward was succeeded in the ministry by the Rev. R. 
S. Kendall, installed as pastor Dec. 24, 1845; a man widely 
difi'ering from his predecessor in temperament, yet in point 
of intellectual qualities in no respect his inferior. Possess- 
ing a clear, penetrating mind; keen, logical powers, and a 
vivid imagination ; a brilliant and forcible writer and earnest 
speaker, he had probably no superior among all the minis- 
ters who had previously occupied this pulpit. For the 
highest success in the various duties of the pastoral office, 
in the discharge of which a different class of qualities are 
called into requisition, he did not possess, or perhaps failed 
to exercise, the power over the hearts of his people, so 
eminently displayed by some of the former pastors. The 
low state of his health, his keenly sensitive nature, and per- 
haps more than all, his deep sense of justice, which made 
him all too conscious of personal slights and injuries, may 
account for the lack above mentioned. In a minister's voca- 
tion, perhaps aiore than any other, there arise more fre- 



36 MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 

quent occasions for the exercise of that patience and charity 
which "thinketh no evil," and "endiireth all things." No 
member of his congregation can forget, while he lives, his 
scathing arraignment in a sermon delivered from this pulpit 
of a certain fraternity provoked l>y a palpable infringement 
of his ministerial privilege. His ministry was terminated 
July 5, 1847, and the Rev. Amos Brown followed him in a 
pastorate of not much longer duration. 

The ordination of Mr. Brown took place May 11, 1848, 
and he was dismissed July 22, 1851. Mr Brown brought 
to his work a character of great energy and perseverance; 
an indefa'igable worker in the Lord's vineyard, he labored 
not lansuccessfully to build up the church, and during his 
short pastorate forty members were added to its numbers. 
After leaving here he became the successful financial agent 
and principal manager of a new educational enterprise, 
started under the auspices of a few leading business men of 
New York city. After its establishment at Havana, under the 
name of the People's College, he became its first President, 
in which office he continued for some yeays, and died Aug. 
14, 1874. During the eighteen months following, the pulpit 
was supplied by transient preaching, at the expiration of 
which time a unanimous call was extended by the church 
and society to the Rev. S. L. Bowher, a graduate of the 
Bangor Theological Seminary, and accepted. Mr. Bowler 
commenced his labors Jan. 5, 1853, under the most favorable 
auspices and with great hopes of a long and successful min- 
istry, but the climate proving unfavorable to his health, he 
felt obliged to bring his ministry to a close at the end of 



MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 37 

seventeen months' service, greatly to tlie regret and disap- 
pointment of his people, and after the lapse of many years 
was re-called to the pastorate, during which his labors were 
eminently successful, the particulars of which will be nar- 
rated in their proper place in this history. 

Henceforward our way will conduct us through well- 
remembered and familiar scenes. We shall no longer be 
obliged to listen to the faint echoes of tradition, nor pore 
over the pages of imperfect and faded records — and often- 
times read between the lines the unwritten history — nor 
rummage among the collections of contemporary literature 
in old libraries for incidental allusions and stray scraps of 
ioformatii)n. We find our record inscribed on the pages of 
memory and written on the living tablets of the heart in 
fadeless characters. Our history henceforward will consist 
in a large part of personal reminiscences. 

Let us retrace together, then, the familiar scenes, so in- 
timately associated with our hearts' richest and deepest ex- 
periences of joy and sorrow, so fraught with the soul's eter- 
nal interests and hopes and fears, and linger in the pleasant 
valleys, and sit again beside the still waters where, in the 
soft, hazy Indian summer twilight of memory, all harsh fea 
tures are smoothed away, and every jarring note of discord 
has sunk into the eternal silence, and only pleasant harmo- 
nies, like the sweet melody of an unending song, sounding 
on and in the soul forever — for what is of God can never 
die. 

The period of my settlement over the church marks another 
great revolution in religious thought. We have seen in the 



38 MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 

earlier times the strong reaction setting in against the old, 
harsh, hyper-Calvinistic theology prevalent in the preceding 
century. We have marked it at its height, and orthodoxy 
entrenching itself behind its impregnable rampart of theo- 
logic creeds, and now against the reaction itself another 
reaction has commenced. The strong humanitarian tendency 
had developed itself into philosophic rationalism, and the 
philosophy of religion elaborated by Theodore Parker had 
left even the advanced thinkers far behind, and the old 
theology had softened into a mild form of moderate Cal- 
vinism. 

Oct. 17, 1855, at 9 o'clock, A.. M., the large council, con- 
sisting of eleven ministers and nearl}' as many delegates, 
assembled in this church for the examination of the candi- 
date. It did not take long to satisfy the council that the 
candidate was sound in all the essential doctrines of the 
evangelical system, so called, and here the scene would have 
ended in mutual satisfaction and good will had not one good 
brother, himself troubled with doubts, innocently requested 
that a few questions might be asked on the peculiar doc- 
trines. This opened a wide field, and started unexpected 
difficulties. To those who clung tenaciously to the old doc- 
trines, the examination was not satisfactory. Several of the 
ministerial brethren were unwilling to give their public en- 
dorsement to the candidate, and withdrew from the council, 
and only the voucher of Prof. Shepherd, coupled with the 
threat of Deacon Talbot that the deacons would ordain if the 
council refused, saved the ordination, which took place in the 
evening, Prof. Shepherd of Bangor Theological Seminary 



MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 39 

preaching the sermoo. We have dwelt particularly upon 
the details of this occasion because of its bearing on the 
future ministry. The slight suspicion of heresy, while it 
did not weaken the confidence of the church in its new min- 
ister, drew to him a class of intelligent citizens who had 
hitherto stood aloof, whose constant support and friendship 
is to this day a cherished memory. 

And now from this late day, casting a backward glance 
over the past, the conviction grows upon me day by day, 
that the rich experiences and great results that followed in 
that sixteen years' ministry is chiefly due to the almost un- 
broken harmony and hearty co-operation of pastor and peo- 
ple in every good word and work. 

It is a matter of special note that the new minister was 
favored in finding his first home, — than which it is rare in 
this world to find a pleasanter one — in the family of the 
daughter of the first minister, the Rev. James Lyon, an aged 
lady and infirm in body, but mentally briglit, cheerful and 
intelligent as ever. 

Am(jng the special privileges granted to the minister in 
that home, was the great and important one of using the 
parlor for a Bible class, composed entirely of young people, 
which met every Monday evening and filled the large room 
to overflowing. There in that Bible class of young people 
commenced, thus earl}', the religious interest which never 
ended and never will ; and there were sown the seeds 
which are still bringing forth their fruits. Not many months 
after, in the since abandoned vestry under this church, the 
first converts, a few young ladies, first declared their new- 



40 MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 

found hope and gave their witness for Christ; and from 
that time to the close of the pastorate, I think it is true to say, 
there was never a time when there were not one or more 
sincere inquirers for the way of life ; and not many com- 
munion seasons when there were not additions to the fold. 

Not very long after this anotlier important enterprise 
was inaugurated. For most of the time since the church 
was built the social meetings had been held in the 
vestry under the church. Many were complaining of the 
bad atmosphere, and all were desirous of having a more 
pleasant and attractive place for social worship. The new 
interest called for more attractive surroundings and a 
more genial atmosphere. It was decided to build anew. 
An energetic vestry society, with the added contribution 
of the men, ere long provided nearly funds enough to 
complete the vestry, now occupied for social meetings on 
Cooper Street — Mr. Nathan Longfellow donating the land. 
Scarcely was it completed before one of tlie upper ro«)ms 
was appropriated by the Young Folks' Prayer Meeting — an 
outgrowth of the Bible class — and being tastefully fitted up 
and made attractive by the hands of the young ladies, was 
consecrated to the permanent use of that meeting, which 
has gone on to this day an unceasing, powerful and benefi- 
cent agency for good to church and community, into xl'hich 
loving hearts and friendly hands welcomed all who could be 
persuaded to enter. There many souls first felt the quick- 
ening impulse of the Holy Spirit, and made the great decis- 
ion, and there many a timid, self-distrusting soul found con. 
fidence to pray in others' hearing, and the weakest gained 



MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 41 

impulse and strength to go out into the world and work for 
Christ. This meeting, composed of both sexes, continnaJiy 
increased in numbers and grew in influence, and went on 
just the same in the presence or absence of the pastor, led 
by the members, the leader of to-night appointing one for 
the next in unbroken continuity, and no one refusing, for 
the idea inculcated was, that a true faith iborketh by love, 
and every disciple of Christ has a mission. The interest in 
these meetings ebl)ed and flowed with the outside tides of 
feeling ; now few in number, then overflowing into the 
larger room with more than one hundred in attendance. 
Strangers transiently sto[)ping in town, ministers of other 
denominations and sailors in port, came in. One captain of a 
Nova Scotia brig wrote back from mid ocean that he had 
found the Savior in consequence of some word he had heard 
here. This meeting gained most of its recruits from the 
Sabbath School. 

And this leads us to speak of the Sabbath School and its 
work. This institution has for a long period of time been 
regarded as a precious and cherished interest of this church, 
and the object of constant prayer and self-sacrificing labor. 
No small amount of pains and expense have been bestowed 
upon it to bring and keep it up to the highest point of effic- 
iency and usefulness; and richly has it repaid the expendi- 
ture. Its origin seems to date back to the year 1817, at 
which period a teacher at Middle River, Miss Arethusa R. 
Putnam, a faitliful disciple of Christ, remembering the com- 
mand to "preach the gospel to every creature," opened a 
Sabbath school there with fifteen scholars, and never had 



42 MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 

more than twenty, and taught the same while her term of 
school lasted. During the period of my pastorate the school 
in the Centre St. church numbered over three hundred, and 
besides this the church had under its oversight and charge 
four other schools. Bro. Harrison T. Smith managed the 
school at the upper school house in Marshfield successfully, 
where, since, a church has been planted; and Dea. Isaac Hea- 
ton carried on for years a most successful Sabbath school in 
the lower district. But the enterprise of this nature that 
enlisted the most active interest of this church, and was most 
fruitful of results, was the one at Little Kennebec, and claims 
more than a passing mention. This locality, being populous, 
isolated from social and religious influences, and abounding 
in children, furnished a most inviting field lor christian hus- 
bandry. Nor did the church lack the faithful sower needed 
for such a work. In Dea. Inglee — brought into the church 
in 1836 under Mr. Ward's ministry, made deacon of the 
charch in 1848; a man thoroughly imbued with the Spirit, 
fervent in prayer, lull of zeal in his master's service wher- 
ever called to work, and endowed with a special gift and love 
for evangelistic work — the church had a servant fitted for 
this important mission. For thirty year*!, with cheerful 
helpers, he carried on this school with increasing interest and 
success till it became self-sustaining, and every year the 
faces grow brighter, the fields greener, the dwellings better 
in consequence thereof. In the Centre Street school it is 
fitting to make special menliou of a class of young men, for 
years under the special charge of one faithful teacher, whose 
success was attested by the numbers in attendance and the 



MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 43 

moral and religious results attained. At the time of wliich we 
write the school was for many years under the superinten- 
dency of Mr. Gilbert Longfellow ; the teachers were very 
much in earnest in their work, conscientious in their prepa- 
ration, and aimed at immediate results ; much of the time 
devoting a half hour to prayer in a retired part of the church, 
just before the session, for God's blessingajpon their present 
work, which was abundantly bestowed. And so did these 
two agencies work together ; the one as the primary, the 
other as the training school of the church, for its numerical 
growth and spiritual edification. 

In the fall of 1865 the church took fire, below the floor in 
the entry, from the smoke pipe, and only by the great exer- 
tions and skillful management of the fire department was 
saved from utter destruction, and with comparatively slight 
damage, and the town from a conflagration. In consequence 
of which disaster the Sabbath services daring the winter 
and spring were held in Libby Hall, where at one commun- 
ion season, in January of the next year, twenty-two persons 
were admitted to membership ; the largest number received 
at any one time during this pastorate. In the repairing of 
the church the walls and ceiling were covered with beauti- 
ful and tasty fresco painting. During these years the fine 
organ now in use was purchased and placed in the church. 
This enterprise was conceived and inaugurated by a few 
ladies about the year 1850, and by means of an entertain- 
ment in the old Court House, opposite the church, some $250 
was secured and safely invested — the church and society at 
large not then feeling much interest in the object. In 185G 



44 MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 

the project was revived, and an organ society formed whose 
meetings, in prosecution of its main object, will he ever held 
in pleasant remembrance for their genial and social charac- 
ter. When the war of the Rebellion broke out tlie funds on 
hand amounted to $1000. During the years of the war the 
Soldiers' Aid societies occupied all hands, and all other work 
was suspended. The work for the organ whs resumed at 
the close of the war and diligently pursued till |1,700 were 
raised, to which amount the gentlemen of the church and so- 
ciety contributed $350 ruore, and the organ was purchased of 
Geo. Stevens, East Cambridge, at a cost of $2,350, the Organ 
Society assuming the balance of debt, which was soon en- 
tirely discharged. In this connection it would \)e an act of 
great injustice to omit the mention of the valuable service 
rendered to this church, in obtaining their organ, by Mr. 
William Goodwin, to whose skill and judgment in planning, 
and his careful oversight in the building, it is mainly due 
that 80 superior an instrument, in point of workmanship, ca- 
pacity and tone, was secured. Thus were the activities of 
the church and society constantly flowing out in a variety 
of directions for its material advancement and spiritual edifi- 
cation. But a living church cannot live for itself alone ; its 
h'ght must radiate, its energies stream forth, to illuminate and 
fertilize the regions beyond. This church being one of the 
largest in the County, and central, interested itself in all the 
feebler churches, and there are but very few of these with 
which, by pastor and delegates, it did not share in the labors 
and joys of revivals. It was one of the foremost in the plan 
of employing a general missionary for the destitute churches 



MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 45 

of Washington County. And beyond the bounds of County or 
State it has sent fortii many faithful servants of God, and 
among them three ministers of the Gospel, one oi whom 
died at his post in Kansas, a devoted and successful mis- 
sionary; auotiier is performing hard and sell-sacrificing labor 
in the same State; and the third, alter some years ot suc- 
cessful missionary work in California, is the pastor of one of 
the flouris'iing churches of this State. And, besides all the 
work actually performed, there was, what may not be known 
to all, a cherished plan of one of the members of this church 
to sustain a co-laborer in the ministry, who, with the co-oper- 
ation of the pas:or of this church, should devote all his time 
to the miiiistr}' within the circuit of the Machias churches — 
a plan never carried into execution, but unquestionably 
fraught with great possibilities of usefu'ness. And now, in 
close connection with the work of this church in the sur- 
roundino; localities, one incident recurs to me so strikin<>; 
and unique that it deserves a place in history. A session 
of the Court was being holden here at a time when a special 
interest in religion prevailed in this town, and still more ex- 
tensively in Marshfield. On a certain evening a party of 
lawyers in attendance on the Court, representing almost as 
many persuasions in religion, conceived the idea of walking 
to Marshfield to a prayer meeting. Arriving there they 
found the large school house filled with people. The meet- 
i[ig was earnest and deeply affecting; all present felt the 
divine influence, and the spirit of prayer and prophesy fell 
on the lawyers also, and nearly all of them were moved to 
join in the exercises ; and for one brief hour at least the 



46 MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 

jarring discords and strife of sects were hushed, and all 
found themselves speaking the language of religion common 
to all souls, perfectly united in one spirit. 

During a portion of the time, the church at East Machias 
being without a pa^;tor, the pastor of this church ministered 
in both churches at the same time, and thus it came about, 
contrary to the oft-repeated maxim that Histoiy never re- 
peats itself, after the lapse of nearly a century the same 
condition of things was restored wjiich existed here in the 
earliest period — the two churches united under one min 
ister. 

!t will not be out of place here to notice an innovation 
adopted quite early in this pastorate, then considered very 
serious, not to say dangerous, by some, but which in these 
times has become quite common. It was found on examina- 
tion that many of the young persons who came into the 
church, while in all other respects entitled to church fel- 
lowship, were not sufficiently versed in the creed to justify 
them in publicly professing their belief in it. To others 
more intelligent it was a stumbling block. Therefore the 
plan was adopted of reading the creed as a testimony and 
not as a test, and no trouble arose therefrom. 

Thus have I endeavored to narrate as briefly and faith- 
fully as possible the principal matters of interest con- 
nected with my pastorate of sixteen years. These same 
years mark, probably, the period of the greatest material 
prosperity and increase this town has ever enjoyed, and 
we think the church history of that period shows that 
the interests of religion, to say the least, were not ueg- 



MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 47 

lected. No great revival of religion occurred during this 
period, but frequent seasons of special interest, and hy 
an inevitable law of spirit, as well as of matter, regular 
and steadfast efTorts were followed by constant results, and 
one hundred and tifty-two members were added to the com- 
munion. An important and most interesting occasion which 
really belongs to this period was the organization of a sepa- 
rate church in Marshfield in September, 1871, the fifth child of 
this church, composed of seventeen members dismissed from 
this church and several more recent converts in that place ; 
twenty-six in all. No one who was present on that occasion 
can ever forget the impressiveness of that scene, as in that 
little company of God's children gathered before the altar 
to be joined in christian fellowship, stood side by side the 
aged disciple, past his forescore years, and the child of ten. 
Two causes terminated this pastorate, viz: an impaired state 
of health and a call to what seemed an important mission — 
in June, 1871. 

The church was supplied witU transient preaching up to 
July, 1872, when the Rev. T. T. Merry was installed pastor. 
During his ministry of seventeen months thirteen members 
were added to the church, and his dismission took place in 
December, 1874, although his actual ministry terminated 
some months earlier. 

For his successor the church re-called their former pastor, 
Rev. Stephen L. Bowler, whose succeeding ministry of five 
years was fruitful of great results. Under the former pastor, 
in August, 1873, through the instrumentality of this church, 
a branch had been formed at Jonesport, which, through the 



48 MEMORIAL ADDRESS, 

fostering care of the mother, continued to prosper and grow, 
and in consequence of the revival that followed, the member- 
ship being largely increased, the same was organized into a 
separate church in September, 1877. The event that will 
render this pastorate ever memorable is the prolonged, wide- 
ly extended and most fruitful revival of 1877-8. This re- 
markable work of grace belongs rather to the present than 
to the past, and all its circumstances and results are too 
fresh in the memory of the living to need more than a brief 
narration of its principal features and events. The pastor 
of the church relates, ''That the revival was preceded by 
an unusual amount of christian work and prayer." The duty 
of church discipline was faithlully attended to, systematic 
efibrts were planned, and specific work allotted to the indi- 
vidual members and diligently prosecuted, with prayer, for 
months before. At the annual chuich Fast at the close of 
the year 1875, signs of revival were thankfully acknowl- 
edged, and there were several conversions following the 
week of prayer and union meetings. In the winter and 
spring of 1877 the interest had greatly increased and the 
desire of christians became more intense for the salvation 
of souls, so that prayer was offered day and night for the 
descent of the Holy Spirit. The attendance on all the re- 
ligious meetings greatly incieased, "and the Young Folks' 
Prayer Meeting was doubled and trebled and (Quadrupled, 
and conversions were multiplied." The interest of the 
church was mucli drawn i)ut towards the pastorless churches 
in the neighboring places, so that the pastor's heart was 
moved to send to New York for John Vassar, the evangel- 



MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 49 

istic missionary, who came in the spring of '77, and ren- 
dered efficient service in the surrounding towns, and aided 
the work in the Centre Street church with continually in- 
creasing interest through the year. In the latter part of 
March, 1878, Mr. D. L. Chubbuck, a reformed man and la}^ 
preacher sent out Ity the Boston Y. M. C. Association, came 
from Cherryfield, where a powerful revivstl had tbllowed his 
labors, to Machias to work as an evangelist. Meetings were 
held in the Town Hall for seventeen consecutive evenings, 
which were crowded with people. Though not approving 
fully of all his methods, the pastors and chuiches wisely 
co-operated with hiuj, and a leading member of the church 
remarks that "Whatever may have been the real results, 
the power that wrought upon the minds of so many, of a class 
that never could have been reached by aiiy other means, is 
truly remarkable." Soon after his departure the work was 
followed up by the labors of Messrs. C. M. Bailey, F. E. 
Shaw, McKenney and Smith with great advantage. The 
pastor of this church states that the number of conversions 
resulting from this work of grace in Machias and vicinity is 
believed to be more than two hundred ; and he could say 
to his people when he closed his labors that he had received 
into the membership of this church, and the branch at Jones- 
port, one hundred persons. 

In October, 1879, the Rev, Daniel Greene commenced his 
labors with this people, as acting pastor, which relation con- 
tinues to this present time, the record of whose completed 
ministry will claim the attention of your next historian. 



50 MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 

And so we liave come to the end of our long journey, and 
may rest from our toils and travels. In the far away, dim 
and shadowj' past we staited on our way, a little floek, with 
our faithful shepherd ; we have ga'hered them in as we pro- 
ceeded down the slow, advancing years — ^^sometimes singly, 
sometimes in companies — till they have grown to be an ex- 
ceeding great company. They are all with us to-day ; they 
throng around us; their shadowy forms sit with us in these 
seats, and the walls of our spiritual Zion expand to embrace 
them all. As we have walked in company with then), and 
sat with them around the table of our common Lord, and 
shared in their trials and joys and sorrows, our hearts have 
gone out to them in feivent love, and we feel that we are 
one — the church on earth and in heaven — one in faith, in 
fellowship, in work, in time and in eternity. How many do 
they number to-da}- ? One of our Deacons has reckoned up 
the total membership of the century, mother and daughters, 
and his report is as follows: 

Total. Dismissed Living. 

Machias, 714 from. Madiias. 400 

East Machias, 307 78 154 

Machiasport, 164 25 105 

Northfield, 46 5 36 

Whitney ville, 126 6 73 

Marshfield, 64 17 56 

Jonesport, 54 27 46 



1475 158 870 

And deducting the number dismissed to form the other 



MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 51 

churches tlie total is 1317. And if we add to her children 
the ioster children of the church — the congregations that 
liave shared in their work and worship — what a vast niulti 
tude. But more sensibly and really are the}- with us to-day 
than in spiritual presence. The church of tiie present is the 
product of all the past. They labored and we have entered 
into their labors. AH their prayers and ' toils, tribulations 
and saciifices, of the century are embodied in this living 
body of Christ — our glorious heritage, our solemn trust. In 
point of space, indeed, only the width of a straw divides our 
starting point from our goal. But from the rude barn over 
the way — in which the voice of the fervent and strong-hearted 
Lyon led that little company in prayer and song — to the 
stately sanctuary where we worship to-day — with its melo- 
dious and many-voiced organ, and its membership of nearly 
two hundred and thirty-three, and its Sabbath school of 
more than three hundred members, and its many other ap- 
pliances for succcessful work,.its resources and surrounding 
population — what a vast difi'ereuce ; what an accumulation 
of means and forces; what an enlargement of ability and 
opportunity ; and in the same ratio, let us remember, is the 
increase of our responsibilities and duties, not of the church 
alone but of the community also; for, as in the past they 
bore in common the labors and burdens, so to-day their in- 
terests and duties are one. 

0, my Brethren ! I am impressed with the thought that 
this day, which divides the centuries, is a great and solemn 
one to us; a memorial and monumental day ; a mount of 
Transfiguration, where the Past and the Future meet to- 



52 MEMORIAL ADDRESS, 

gether face to face. In tl.e light of history we see the 
greatness of our mission, and in the work accomplished we 
read the glorious possibilities that lie before us. Voices 
from the spirit land remind us that our record is still to be 
made, and admonish us to work and wait; and seem to be 
saying to us in audible tones tn-day : 

"Not enjoyment and not sorrow 
Is our destined end and way; 
But to act that each to-morrow 
Finds us farther than to-day. 

Let us then be up and doing. 
With a heal t for any fate ; 
Still achieving, still pursuing, 
Learn to labor and to wait. " 



A BRIEF HISTORY 



OF THE 



CONGHEGATIONAL SABBATH-SCHOOL, 

To September, i884. 



The honor of organizing the first Sabbath-school in Ma- 
chias is due to Miss Arethusa Brigham, afterward wile of 
Rev. John Putnam of Dunbarton, N. H., who came to this 
village in the summer of 1817, from VVestboro, Mass., to 
teach school in that part of the town theu called Middle 
River, now Marshfield. We make the following extract from 
her journal: 

"My place for teaching was in the Northern district of 
Machias, called Middle River. I commenced a Sabbath 
School in July, 1817, in the school house, with fifteen schol- 
ars. The number was, perhaps, never more than twenty. 

My practice was to question the children on the doctrines 
and duties of the Christian religion, and give instruction on 
these subjects as I thought beneficial and as they were ca- 
pable of understanding. During the afternoon I read to 
them religious books, and questioned them upon the reading. 
No Sabbath-school had been taught there previous to this. 



54 SABBATH SCHOOL. 

When the school commenced, there was but one praying 
family in the district, Mr. Henry Lyon's, sou of the first min- 
ister of Machias; when it closed there were seven." One 
member of this school, Mrs. Sally Hadley, is still living.* 

The next year, 1818, Mrs. Steele, wife of Rev. Marshfield 
Steele, opened a Sunday-school in the kitchen of their dwell- 
ing, Miss Rebecca O'Brien and Miss Rebecca Sevey assist- 
ing her. How long this school continued we cannot learn. 

In the summer of 1820, Miss Abagail Perkins, from Salem, 
Mass., employed in teaching a select school for Misses, find- 
ing public services were held here only once in two weeks, 
opened a Sunday-school for, girls only, in her school-room, 
to meet when no other service was held. This school was 
kept in a building which stood where the Donworth store 
now stands. Only one member of that school still lives, Miss 
Lucy S. Haskell. 

After this, perhaps the next year, Dea. VVm. A. Crocker 
opened a school in his store chamber. Few attended this 
beside the children of the church, which was then small; but 
in the winter of 1825-6, a Mr. Whittlesey, from Yale Col- 
lege, came to Lubec on a visit. He was studying for the 
ministry, earnestly working for the Master. He was invited 
here by Rev. Abraham Jackson, preaching here at that time, 
and his labors were blessed by the conversion of many 
souls. 



*Mi9s Brigham the same year formed the first Missionary Society 
iu town, the hidies agreeing to pay one cent per week. Only one 
member of this society is now living, Mrs. Nathan Longfellow. 



SABBATH SCHOOL. 55 

A Sabbath-scliool was afterward opeued Id the church, 
with these workers: 

Dea. Wm. A. Crocker, Miss Lucy Foster, 

Mrs. Steele, Miss Ruth Dutton, 

Stephen Smith, Miss Eliza Dutton, 

Miss Rebecca O'Brien, Mrs. Hannah Bowles, 

Miss Rebecca Seavey, Mr. Charles Stuart, 

Mrs. Mary O'Brien, Mrs. Dea. Thatcher, 

Mrs. Dea. Crocker. 
From the class book of Miss Mary Goodhue we find that 
on May 20, 1827, a Sunda^'-school was organized in the old 
meeting-house as follows: 

Dea. VVm. A. Crocker, Superintendent. 
Teachers. 
Dea. H. Thatcher, Miss Mary Goodhue, 

Capt. G. S. Smith, Mr. Warren Smith, 

Dr. R. W. Wood,* Mr. Thomas Delap Smith, 

Mrs. Dea. Thatcher, Miss Elizabeth Kettell, 

Miss Deborah Farnsworth. 
At the same time an Adult Class was formed — the first of 
its kind. Two or three persons met in Judge Jones' pew 
for mutual instruction. The number soon increased to fif- 
teen, when the class was removed to the gallery, choosing 
Miss L. S. Haskell as teacher. The history of this class 
shows it to have been maintained very irregularly, chiefly 
on account of a lack of suitable teachers. Subsequently 
there were six adult classes connected with the school. 
We have not been able to ascertain beyond a doubt just 

*Still living. 



56 SABBATH SCHOOL. 

when the school began to be kept through the winter 
months, but it is probable that the year 1832 is not far from 
the time. The school was held in the Court House during 
the cold weather, as likewise were all religious meetings, 
the means for warming the meeting-house being insufficient 
to make it comfortable. Dea. Crocker remained Superin- 
tendent of the school until 1834, when Mr. Thomas Delap 
Smith was cliosen to succeed him, and served until 1837, 
at which time he removed to Calais. 

In 1838 the first Infant Class was formed by Miss Lucy 
S. Haskell, under whose direction it flourished until 1841, 
when it was taken in charge by Miss Eliza G. Longfellow, 
and removed from the audience room of the church to the 
entry. Its membership at one time was ninety, the largest 
attendance on any one Sunday being seventy-six. 

In January, 1860, Miss Longfellow removed to Massachu- 
setts, and Miss Eliza Crocker assumed the charge of tiie 
class. She retained it until her removal to California in 
October, 1870. The same month Miss Longfellow, having 
returned to Machias, resumed the care of the class, remain- 
ing in that position until October, 1882, when compelled by 
sickness to leave it to the care of others. There has been 
no regular teacher since. 

January 10, 1843, Rev, Stephen D. Ward, who was then 
Pastor of the church, was chosen Superintendent with Bros. 
James Pope and Marshall Thaxter, Assistants, and Ezekiel 
Thaxter, Librarian. At the same time the church adopted 
the school as part of its regular work by the passage of the 
following resolution : 



SABBATH SCHOOL. o7 

Resolved, ''That the Sabbath-school be taken under the 
immediate patrouage of the Church, and that the appoiut- 
meut of its officers and oiher business pertaining to its pros- 
perity be attended to at the January meeting each year." 

January 1, 1844, Rev, S. D. Ward was re-elected Super- 
intendent, Dea. VVm. A. Crocker and Bro. Marshall Thaxter, 
Assistants; Ezekiel Thaxter, Librarian. 'It is also recorded 
in the Chunh Records, under the same date, that "Mr. 
James Pi)pe and William Inglee were appointed to superin- 
tend a school in Little Kennebec." This is the first record 
we find ol any action being taken by the Church in reference 
to this school, although it had been in operation since 1836, 
when Miss Susan Thuxter, afterwards Mrs. N. Bates, per- 
suaded these gentlemen to go with her a distance of three 
miles and open a school. Mr. Inglee continued his labors 
every summer in that place for thirty years, when the school 
became self-supporting. We may as well state here that 
about the same time, 1836, Sunday-schools were maintained 
in what is now known as the Atus district and in Marshfield. 
In the latter place the schools have been continued until 
the present time; always, however, under the care of laborers 
from this church. The school in the upper district of 
Marshfield became self-supporting in the summer of 1874. 
A church was organized in that town in 1871, consisting 
of forty members. 

In June, 1846, a Teachers' meeting was appointed, and 
such a meeting was sustained, with perhaps occasional in 
termissions during the hottest weather, until 1874; since 
that time at irregular intervals. 



58 SABBATH SCHOOL 

Mr. Ward whs dit<rnissed i'rom the pastorate of the church 
in August, 1844, but we have been unable to ascertain who 
was his successor in the school. 

The next item in the record: "Jan. 1, 1847, Bro. Marsliall 
Thaxter was elected Superintendent of the Sabbath-school." 
He served one year an(i vvas succeeded by Mr. James Pope. 
In 1850-51, Dea. WiJJiKni A. Crocker was again chosen 
Superintendent. 

In December, 1851, it vvas proposed that the teachers 
should nominate their own superintendent, and should pre- 
sent his name to the church at their annual Fast Meeting for 
election. This was accordingly done, and Bro. Gilbert Long- 
fellow was nominated, and Dec. 31, 1851, was elected by 
the church. Since thistin)e all business a[)pertaining to the 
school has been first discussed at a meeting of the teachers, 
and their conclusions presented to the church for ratification 
or rejection at its annual Fast Meeting. In January, 1852, 
Bro. Gilbert Longfellow took the office and remained" super- 
intendent of the school until 1868, in June of which year he 
removed from town, with the exception of the year 1860, 
during which year Bro. H. T. Smith filled the office. 

Previous to the year 1862, we are unable to obtain any 
facts as to contril^utions by the school beyond this: that 
contributions were made and a treasurer appointed, but 
when first appointed, or who, or the amounts of contribu- 
tions, we can not ascertain. Dec. 31, 1862, Bro. Clark 
Longfellow was ciiosen Treasurer, and from his books we 
copy the following amounts contributed by the school in the 



SABBATH SCHOOL. 59 

class lioxt's, mikI paid out liy Iiini \o the various missionary 
objects by vote ot the teachers. 



Total 


tor 


1863, 
1864, 




u 


1865, 






18o6, 
1^67, 
1868, 
1869, 




a 


1870, 




" 


1871, 




t( 


1872, 



Total for 


1873, 




i. 


1874, 


162.45 


(i t. 


1875, 


299.91 


11 u 


1876, 


131.02 


il u 


•1877, 


120.26 


it t( 


1878, 


107.39 


.t ii 


1879, 


105.94 


il ii 


1880. 


112.62 


k< <I 


1881, 


92.79 


11 ii 


1882. 


113.60 



43.81 
49.32 
120.74 
139.22 
168,63 
205.36 
142 90 
127.54 
119.81 

Total for 1883, $100.98. 
In 1880, we began using collection envelopes instead of 
the boxes, and still continue their use. By this method the 
araounfof contribution is announced weekly and gives bet- 
ter satisfaction than when reported quarterly. 

Previous to 1872, we are unal)le to give the disposition of 
the Sabbrtth-school funds with this exception — a few notes 
taken from the Superintendent's diary. "Contril)i-iti()ns for 
1852 appropriated to the education of heathen children: 

Dec. 30, 1862. Voted to ct)ntribute for the contrabands 
and heathen cliildren; teachers to decide lor their respec- 
tive classes, the general contribution to be equally divided 
between the two objects. 

In 1863 a contribution for tracts for soldiers. 
Dec. 31, 1864. Voted contributions same as last year, 
one-half to freedmen and one-half to heathen children." 
In 1872, it was voted to appropriate one-half of the amount 



60 SABBATH SCHOOL. 

of the class contributioiKs towards defraying the expenses 

of Library books, &c. In June, 1872, we find ttiis vote was 

taken : "Voted to take amount of $25.00 now in Treasury 

towards liquidating debt of school." 

Dec. 31, 1873, it was voted to have public contributions 

to defray expenses of the S ibf)ath-schooI during the follow- 
ing year. 

Jan. 4, 1874, it was voted to give the money in the boxes 

to the American Missionary Association. Also voted that 
Sabi)ath-schooI concert collections be (jlevoted to the Li 
brary. In November, same year, the first of the above 
votes was reconsidered. On motion. Voted, That money in 
the boxes shall he used to defray the necessary expenses of 
the school, and what remains shall be given to the American 
Missionar}' Association. 

For 1875, contributions were to be taken in the cliurch 
once in two months for the benefit of the Ir^abbath-school, 
commencing the third Sunday in January. It was voted 
that all money contributed for Sabf)ath-school purposes pass 
through the hands of the treasurer, one-tenth devoted to the 
American Missionary Association and the remainder towards 
defraying the expenses of the school. At the close of this 
year, we have the following from the Superintendent's Re- 
port: "We have received enough during the year to meet 
our expenses, and thanking tlie church for their help during 
the past year, we advise that for the coming year we omit 
the contril)ntions in the church for the support of the 
school."' 

Why the amount due the American Missionary Associa- 



SABBATH SCHOOL. Gl 

tion for 1876 was not sent during that year, we do not know ; 
but that it was sent with the contribution for the following: 
year, 1877. is shown by reference to orders from the Execu- 
tive Committee. The vote of Jan. 26, 1877, is as follows: 
"Voted, That the balance of money in the treasury, after 
paying expenses of school and one hundred dollars for 
Library, be given to the American Missionary Association, 
providing it shall not be less than ten per cent, ot the re- 
ceipts." / 

It was voted, Jan. 25, 1878, to contribute one-tenth of all 
money raised to the Maine Missionary Society this present 
year. 

Vote of Dec. 5, 1878, in relation to the contributions for 
the following year : "Voted, To give one-tenth of Sabbath- 
school receipts for missionary purposes; one-half of this 
amount to Maine Missionary Society and one-half to Ameri- 
can Missionary Association." 

From 1S79 to 1882 one-tenth of the gross receipts of the 
school has been given to missionary purposes in the manner 
described above. 

Dec. 31, 1880, it was voted to give five dollars to the 
Umzumiti Mission. 

In 1883, it was voted that one-fifth of the gross receipts of 
the school should be donated to die American Missionary 
Association and Maine Missionary Society, one-half to each; 
and also that a collection be taken for the church building in 
Cherryfield, Me., at such time as the Superintendent should 
direct. 

In December, 1883, it was voted that in the following 



62 SABBATH RCHOOL. 

year, ten dollars be given to the American Board of Foreign 
Missions, ten dollars to American Missionary Association, 
and ten dollars to the church at Cherryfield. 

In 1856. the members of our school took seventy-four 
shares in the missionary packet "Morning Star." 

When the second vessel of the same name was fitted out, 
we contributed $22.80, or 228 shares. In the steamship 
"Morning Star," built the present year, (1884) our school 
has fifty-five shares, having contributed $13.75. 

The average attendance, or total membership, of the school 
for all these years we have been unable to obtain. 

A few statistics for the succeeding years are as follows : 
The Superintendent's diary has the attendance of teachers 
and scholars for the first few Sabbaths in January, 1852, as 
follows: HI, 83, 109, 112, 115, 117. The Superintendent's 
Report for 1875 gives the whole number of officers, teachers 
and scholars as 306. 

Number connected with the school at the close of 1876: 
Officers and Teachers, 38 ; Scholars, 337. Largest number 
present at one session, 280. 88 names are on the Infant 
Class list for the year. During the past six years 204 pupils 
have been connected with this class. 

At the close of 1877 : Officers and Teachers, 39 ; Scholars, 
350. Largest attendance, 279. Number in Infant Class, 75. 

At the close of 1878 : Number of Teachers, 30 ; Scholars, 
358. Largest attendance, 262. Number in Infant Class, 60. 

Average attendance for 1883 was 123; the largest, 176. 

The school at present has a membership of 238, divided 
into twenty-seven classes. 



SABBATH SCHOOL. (53 

Dec. 31, 1868, Bro. C. F. Stone whs elected Superinten- 
dent, which place he retained until January, 1874, when, at 
his own request, he was relieved by Dr. C. M. Bailey. 

At a special business meeting of the Sabbath school teach- 
ers, July 5, 1874, Dr. Bailey tendered his resignation as 
Superintendent, which was accepted. Mr. Clark Longfellow 
was chosen to fill the vacancy, and continued to fill this 
otiice till January, 1877, when Dea. C. F. Stone was again 
chosen Superintendent. He held this position till January, 
1883, when he was succeeded by Dea. Gilbert Longfellow, 
who still retains the office. Mr. Stone occupied the position 
of Assistant Superintendent at the time of his death, Nov. 
1, 1883. 

In 1861, it was voted to hold a Sunday-school concert 
upon the second Sunday of every month. This plan was 
followed for a little more than thirteen years, when at the 
annual Fast in December, 1873, it was voted to hold the 
Sunday-school concert only every other month. In 1871 
this matter was given in charge of a committee of three, 
whose duty it was to arrange for the concert, giving out 
the parts and providing all things necessary for its success. 
This meeting has always been fully attended, the whole 
school, teachers and scholars, uniting in their eiltbrts to make 
the exercises interesting. The committee of three contin- 
ues at the present time, assisted by a Music Committee of 
three. The number of concerts during the following years 
to the present time has varied greatly. In 1881, there 
were four ; in 1882, three ; in 1883, one ; thus far the pres- 



64 SABBATH SCHOOL. 

ent year (September) they have been held every month, 
lu 1870, an Executive Committee of three was chosen to 
assist the Superintendent. In 1872 a Constitution was 
drawn up by the Executive Committee, under the direction 
of the Pastor, submitted to the church and by them adopted, 
by which the whole church was organized into a Sunday- 
school Association, of which the Pastor was "ex officio" 
President. The other officers being, Superintendent, As- 
sistant Superintendent, Secretary, Treasurer, Librarian, 
Chorister, Executive Committee of three, Concert Committee 
of two, and Music Committee of two. 



CONSTITUTION 

Of the Congregational Church Sabbath-School, Machias. 
''Feed Mi/ iMmhs.''' — John xxi, 15. 
The Sabbath-school is the Church in the function of Chris- 
tian instruction. 

OFFICERS AND COMMITTEES. 

Art. 1. The officers of this School shall consist of a Pres- 
ident, Superintendent, Assistant Superintendent, Secretary, 
Treasurer, Librarian and Chorister. 

Art. 2. There shall be three Committees, viz: An Ex- 
ecutive Committee of three, and a Music and Concert Com- 
mittee of two members each. 

DUTIES OF PRESIDENT. 

Art. 3. The Pastor of the church shall be the President 
of the school and a member of all Committees, and it shall 
be his duty to preside at all business meetings of the school, 
and in his absence a President pro tem shall be chosen. 



SABBATH SCHOOL. 65 

DUTIES OF SUPERINTENDENT. 

Art. 4. It shall be the duty of the Superintendent to 
have oversight of the school; to manage its general concerns, 
and, with the advice of the Executive Committee, arrange, 
number and seat the classes, and make transfers from one to 
another whenever the interest may require. He shall al>o 
maintain a vigorous discipline and devise such means as 
may promote the -growth and spiritual prosperity of the 
scliool, and be a member of all Committees. 

DUTIES OF assistant SUPERINTENDENT. 

Art. 5. It shall be the duty of the Superintendent's As- 
sistant to render him all the aid the faithful discharge of 
his duties may require, nnd in his absence take his place 
and perform the duties of Ids office. 

secretary's duties. 

Art. 6. It shall be the duty of the Secretary to keep a 
record of the school; of the conversions, deaths, and such 
other matters as are of importance. 

treasurer's duties 

Art. 7. It shall be the duty of the Treasurer to keep a 
correct account of all moneys received by hitn, and pay no 
bills except with the approval of the Superintendent and 
two or more of the Executive Committee. 

DUTIES OF librarian. 

Apt 8. It shall l»e the duty of the Librarian to take 
charge of the Library ; to see that the books drawn there- 
from on the Sabbath are duly returned, and on the first 
Sabbrth in July, call in all books; take account of the same; 
make all necessary repairs and, with the Executive Commit- 



66 SABBATH SCHOOL. 

tee, purchase and examine new l)ooks and see that none of 
questionable character are admitted to the Library. 

DUTIES OF COMMITTEES. 

Art. 9. The Executive Committee shall be the advisers 
of the Superintendent, and assist the Librarian in the pur- 
chase and examination of all books for the replenishing of 
the Library and, with the Superintendent, approve bills. 

It shall be the duty of the Concert Committee, subject to 
the Superintendent, to prepare for the concerts, and of the 
Music Committee to have the general management of the 
music of the school. 

DUTIES OP CHORISTER. 

Art. 10. The Chorister shall conduct the singing of the 
school and give all possible instruction to the scholars. 

DUTIES OF TEACHERS. 

Art. 1L It shall be the duty of the Teachers: First. 
To be punctual in attendance at every session of the school, 
and in case of necessary absence to provide a substitute and 
inform the superintendent of the same. Second. To promote 
the Christian education of the school, visit their scholars 
when sick or absent, and attend the weekly Bible Class. 

MEMBERSHIP. 

Art. 12. All members of the Church, and officers and 
teachers of the Sabbath-school, shall be entitled to member- 
ship and the right to vote. 

ANNUAL MEETING. 

Art. 13. The annual meeting of the school shall be held 
on the day of the church fast, at which meeting the officers 
for the ensuing year shall be chosen by ballot. 



SABBATH SCHOOL. 67 

AMENDMENTS. 

Art. 14. This Constitution may be altered or amended 
at any annual meeting of the scliool by a two-thirds vote of 
the members present. 

Accepted by vote, Dec. 31, 1872. 

H. R. Taylor, Secretary. 



AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION. 

First. Dec 31, 1873. Voted to amend the Constitution 
adopted by the Sabbath-school, and give authority to retire 
a member /?'07n and add one to the Execbtive Committee 
each year. 

Second. Dec. 31, 1878. Voted that one member be 
added and one retired each year on Concert and Music Com- 
mittees, to be chosen in the same manner as the Executive 
Committee. The number on each committee to be three. 

Third. Dec. 30, 1882. Voted to amend the Constitution 
by adding another committee to be known as the Library 
Committee, and to consist of not less than five members to 
be elected tor five years, one retiring and one chosen each 
year. It shall be the duty of this Committee to examine 
and accept all books to be added to the Library; to have 
charge ot all books belonging to the school ; to remove ob- 
jectionable books ; to loan books not generally used ; and. 
with Pastor, Superintendent and Librarian, to purchase 
books as they* may be needed. 



The method of instruction in this school has been similar 
to that pursued in other schools. In the first year of its 



68 SABBATH SCHOOL. 

existence, there were used as text books : The Bible, Watts' 
Psahns and Hymns, Assembly's Catachism, Watts' Divine 
and Moral Songs, Watts' Hymns for Inlant minds, and the 
New England Primer. 

As early as 1854 the plan of Uniform Lessons for the 
whole school was adopted. A lady, Miss Emma Porter, at 
that time one of the teachers of the school, compiled ft series 
of lessons, the text being taken from the Old and New Tes- 
taments alternately. These were printed on a slip of paper 
in the form given below, and one given to each scholar. 
1 copy from the sheet for 1855. 

Date. To commit. Siihject. For Jieading. 

May 13. 2 Peter i, \'d-i\. The Bible. Its Divine Iiisj)iiation. 2 Peter i. Deut iv, H-40 
" 20. Genesis ii, 1-:!. Narrative. The Sabhatli and its 

desijrn. (ienesis ii. 1. nice vl, 1-12 
" 27. Horn, iii, 1-12. Doctrine. The character and con- 
dition of man. Honians iii. Genesis iii 

This plan was necessarily abandoned in 1865, Miss Porter 
removing from town, and no one being found to take her 
place. In June, 1869, the lessons prepared and furnished 
by Adams, Blackmer & Lyons of Chicago, having come 
to the knowledge of the Superintendent, he brought the 
subject before the teachers, and they at once adopted them 
for this school. 

In 1878 they commenced, with the majority of the schools 
in tiie States and Canada, The Seven Years Course of Bible 
Study, now called the International Series, using the slips 
furnished by tiie American Sunday School Union. We are 
still .xtuifying the International Lessons, at present and for 
the past two years, using Peloubet's Series. 

The earliest record we find of a library is in 1880. At 



SABBATH SCHOOL. 69 

that time the teachers were in the habit oi" going to the 
library and selecting books for their pupils. In 1843 we 
find the system of tin tags, hung on the library door over 
the scholars' number, to be the one in use. This answered 
admirably for a time, not a book being lost under this system; 
but the school outgrew it, and then the books were carried 
around the school in baskets, each scholai* being allowed to 
select for himself. So many books were lost by this ineth(>d 
that in 1869 the plan of taking books from the library by 
numbers was introduced. At this time the libr;iry whs 
renovated and enlarged, upwards ot $250.00 being spent in 
the purchase ot new books, fitting the library cHse, &c. 
Then each scholar was furnished with a card for numbers, 
and a catalogue of the books, and no one was allowed at the 
library except the Librarians. This answered a verv good 
purpose; but it was ttnmd necessary to introduce one more 
change, and. in 1870, the tin partitions separating each book 
trom its tellow, were put in position. The recoid was kept 
upon a card provided for the purpose, one tor each scholar 
and teacher in the school. This plan fias worked admiralilv 
ever since, scarcely a book being lost. 

In 1873 it was found that the library needed renovating. 
It had now increased to about one thousand volumes, among 
which were many works of inferior merit; the case also was 
becoming too small to contain them. In view of this luct the 
Librarian and Executive Committee, with the advice and 
consent of the officers of the Association, decided to give 
themselves a wider field from which to select books, and, 
abandoning the original intention and design of Sabbath- 



70 SABBATH SCHOOL. 

school libraries, that of furnishing Sunday reading to the 
children, they resolved to aim in their selections at good, 
pure reading of acknowledged merit, leaving the question 
of its appropriateness for Sunday to the decision of the par- 
ents. Tliey accordingly placed upon the shelves books of 
travel, science, and also of fiction, not specially religious. 
At the same time those books more suitable for the younger 
scholars were catalogued by themselves, the pupils being 
furnished with a colored caid. A Teachers' library was 
also added, some $75.00 being expended in the purchase of 
new books, the library numbering in all 616 volumes. 

Later, the following amounts of money have been ex- 
pended in huoks : January, 1878. $152.00 ; December, 1880, 
$U0.80; March. 1883, $59.70. The Library now numbers 
aliont one ilionsand volumes. 



ERRATA. 

On [tjij^c II 4tli iiiic Iroiii the liotloin "1 770 " slmiild lie 1775. 
On pHu-e -J -I- \-l\\\ line liom I he lop. (211) slimild he 21. 



^OV 4 1908 



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